Moscow proposing changes to daycare rules

The City of Moscow is considering changing the daycare requirements in an attempt to increase daycare capacity in the city.

The Moscow Administrative Committee heard the proposed changes Monday and the issue will be discussed at the next Moscow City Council meeting.

Katie Short, Moscow Police administrative specialist, said a local daycare provider contacted the police in 2019 with a desire to increase their capacity to address the long waitlist of children whose parents wanted the daycare’s services.

Since then, the police created a task force and held public hearings with providers and families to get input on the issue. Currently, there are 13 daycares in Moscow, Short said.

The proposed code would change the allowed child-to-staff ratio to make room for more children at each daycare.

To determine this ratio, the regulations assign points per child based on their age, with the youngest children being assigned the most points.

Under the old rules, there needed to be a minimum of one daycare director or staff member for every 10 points. The new rules increase that to 12 points to allow for more children to be admitted to each daycare facility.

The proposed changes also include relaxing restrictions that deny daycare provider licenses to people who have been charged with a misdemeanor drug and alcohol violation. Short said police often see license applicants with minor in possession charges and the department felt it would be inappropriate to punish them for mistakes they made during their teenage years.

Additional potential rule changes include adding vaccination exemptions for religious or medical reasons to match Idaho standards, establishing the minimum age a person can work at a daycare at 14 years old, and allowing parents or guardians to have access to their children at any time unless otherwise dictated by the court.

The committee chose not to recommend the proposed rule changes because it wanted input from the full city council. The next city council meeting is scheduled for July 18.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.