50.03.080 Operation of Early Childhood Services Program - License Required

(a) A license for family child care is required if early childhood services are provided for four or more children ages twenty-four months and under, or six or seven children through age eleven at any one time which includes no more than three children under twenty-four months of age.

(b) A license for group child care is required if early childhood services are provided for at least eight and no more than thirty children at any one time.

(c) A license for a child care center is required if early childhood services are provided for more than thirty children at any one time.

(d) Except as provided under subsection (e), a person may not establish or operate a family child care, group child care, preschool, school-age child care, or child care center unless licensed to do so by the department.

(e) A governmental organization may not establish or operate a family child care, group child care, preschool, school-age child care, or child care center without first receiving public approval by certifying, to the department or the department's authorized agent, that it has complied with all rules applicable to family child care, group child care, preschool, or school-age child care, or to child care centers.

(f) A license is not required for onsite child care services located in the actual building in which the child's parent is employed, not to exceed ten children per location.

(g) An applicant for a license shall submit the cost for background checks to obtain a license to the program which includes but is not limited to the tribal background check, the federal NCIC check, child welfare background check with any state or tribal area in which the provider has ever resided.

(h) An applicant for a license who currently holds a license shall submit the nonrefundable fees set forth in subsection (g) with the application at least sixty days and no more than ninety days before the expiration date of the applicant's current license.

(i) All fees collected under subsections (g) and (h) must be paid to the department or the department's authorized agent and must be used to defray the cost, to the department or the department's authorized agent, of investigating, inspecting, and evaluating the applications or to provide training to providers of early childhood services.