S.C. child care providers seek delay on teacher/child ratios

On the front page of thursdays Herald there is a story about delaying new teacher-to-child ratios that are set to take effect on July 1. These new ratios could cost child-care providers more than $18,000 a year in lost income. The South Carolina Child Care Association director is asking for relief so it won't have to raise the rates charged to parents. The state Department of Social Services, which regulates child care facilities, said that they will try to postpone the new regulations by one year because of the recession. The new regulations were adopted in 2006 in order to improve the quality of S.C. child care by increasing the teaching staff. The new ratios would require that one teacher would care for five children aged birth to one year. One teacher would be required to care for six children aged one to two years. One teacher would be required to care for seven children aged two to three. One teacher would be required to care for eleven children aged three to four years. One teacher would be required to care for seventeen children aged four to five years. One teacher would be required to care for twenty- three children aged six to twelve- years -old. The article did not list what the current standards are. Either way, even with the new standards, that is alot of very young children for one teacher to be responsible for.
Nora