CT increases early childhood care ratios for 2-year-olds
Ginny Monk / ctmirror.org
Connecticut Office of Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye speaks to lawmakers about a proposed regulation change for the care of 2-year-olds on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Hartford.
Connecticut child care centers will soon be able to have more 2-year-olds in classrooms, after Connecticut lawmakers on Tuesday gave the nod of approval to a regulation change that increases child care ratios for toddlers.
The Regulation Review Committee approved the change that allows an early childhood educator to take care of five 2-year-olds rather than four. It also increases the number of 2-year-olds allowed in one classroom to 10, provided there are at least two caregivers.
The change, which has been years in the making, applies to center-based care. For lawmakers, it was a complicated decision, with advocates saying it would help fill the dearth of child care slots and financially benefit centers but opponents arguing it could cut down on the quality of care for young kids and make them less safe.
“In a perfect world, we’d have perfect ratios, and everyone would be more than happy,” said committee co-chair Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield. “But we don’t live in a perfect world.”
Office of Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye told lawmakers that the change would mean there are fewer children in unregulated, unlicensed care in the state. She said she estimates it would add between 650 and 1,000 new child care slots for 2-year-olds.
Connecticut is short about 17,000 early childhood care slots. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated strains on the industry, which is seeing significant workforce shortages.
Child care has grown more expensive in recent years. When families can’t access child care, parents — especially mothers — can be shut out of the workforce.
“I think we got to the right balance over a couple years of talking with Governor [Ned] Lamont, with this 1-to-5 [ratio], regarding children’s safety,” Bye said. “But we’re also helping more families be able to enter the workforce and make a living themselves.”
She also said that the change will help child care centers at the start and end of the day in particular when the workforce tends to be short because workers have to leave early or arrive late. The change will also be a boon to Connecticut’s economy because more people will be able to go to work while someone is caring for their children.
“This is incremental help, and it’s super important, as anything helps,” Bye said. “But centers have said to us, particularly centers in high-need communities where it’s really hard to hire staff, that this 5-to-1 will help them.”
A group of pediatricians and child development experts have argued that the change could lead to weakened connections between children and caregivers, more spread of disease and less-safe settings.
“Safety is really about supervision, and this is why it’s so important to talk about caring for our children,” said Angela Crowley, a professor emeritus of nursing at Yale, in a previous interview with The Connecticut Mirror. Crowley has researched poor quality child care and how to improve health and safety.
Committee co-chair Rep. Lucy Dathan, D-New Canaan, asked how Connecticut’s regulations compare to other states.
Connecticut’s ratios for children under 3 have been among the lowest in the nation, and pediatricians have argued it should stay that way. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends ratios of no more than one caregiver to four kids aged 13 months to 35 months.
All the lawmakers present for the initial vote approved of the regulation change, although Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, offered a caveat.
Osten said she’s particularly concerned about the lack of child care in eastern Connecticut and wants to see improvements to that. She also said that lawmakers are able to change their minds if they think the new ratios aren’t working.
“Sen. Osten will vote in the affirmative, but will be watching the activity that happens in our child care centers,” she said during Tuesday’s vote.
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