North CarolinaHB 4122025-2026 SessionHouse

AN ACT TO DECOUPLE THE CHILD CARE RATED LICENSE SYSTEM AND SUBSIDIZED CHILD CARE SUBSIDY REIMBURSEMENT RATES AND TO MAKE OTHER CHILD CARE REGULATORY REFORMS.

Sponsored By: Dean Arp (Republican), Donny Lambeth (Republican), Erin Paré (Republican), Heather H. Rhyne (Republican)

Signed by Governor

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

7 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 4 mixed.

Easier credential paths for child care staff

Community college continuing education courses count the same as curriculum courses for Division credentials when the community college system says they are equivalent. Five years of work in a licensed North Carolina child care facility counts like the early childhood credential for quality ratings. This helps workers qualify without extra classes and can lower training costs.

More options for after-school and emergency care

By December 1, 2025, the state creates a School Age/Out‑of‑School Care Credential and a new intro course. Out‑of‑school programs in approved school buildings and grounds meet child care facility rules when serving the same or a subset of the same school‑age students. The Weikart Youth Program Quality Assessment is approved and available within one year. Starting July 1, 2025, during a declared emergency with remote learning, programs licensed before the emergency are treated as licensed even if they expand, if they keep required staff‑child ratios.

Plan to unlink ratings from subsidy pay

The state Division must propose by May 1, 2026 a plan to separate child care quality ratings from subsidy payments and publish a new market rate study. New reimbursement rates can start only after federal approval and the General Assembly authorizes them. Until both approvals happen, the current payment plan stays in place.

Safer, more flexible buildings for child care

Starting July 1, 2025, child care facilities must meet the State Building Code for child care and get yearly fire inspections; centers on State property are inspected by a State Fire Marshal designee. Family child care homes in dwellings or manufactured homes may follow residential rules if they add safety features like same‑level exits, a 2A:10B:C extinguisher within 40 feet, a safety plan, and carbon monoxide and smoke alarms. Also starting July 1, 2025, the Division may license multiunit or multiuse centers and give separate licenses by the square footage each owner uses. These changes raise safety checks but also make it easier to open space in shared buildings.

New staffing and class size rules

The law sets caps and ratios: 0–12 months 1:5 (group up to 15), 12–24 months 1:6 (group up to 18), and ages 2–3 years 1:10 (group up to 20), with no group over 25. Centers may choose voluntary enhanced options with smaller groups and better ratios. Administrators must be 21 or older and hold the administration credential; lead teachers must start credential coursework within six months of hire and finish in 18 months unless they have five years’ experience. A lead teacher may oversee at most two groups; if two, another staff member must be in credential training. For centers licensed for 200 or more children, the Department sets education categories to guide staffing.

Off-base military child care license exemption

Family child care homes off base with a Department of Defense or Coast Guard certificate and a cleared background are exempt from State licensure when they serve only children eligible under DOD rules. They must register with the Department and meet safety checks like a fire extinguisher within 40 feet, working carbon monoxide and smoke alarms, and a safety plan. If certification is suspended or ended for noncompliance or abuse, the operator cannot get a State license and may be placed on the Child Maltreatment Registry.

Uniform rules across child care programs

The Child Care Commission must update its rules so this law applies the same way across license types and programs. This is an administrative change and does not by itself change who gets money or benefits.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Cosponsors

William D. Brisson
Republican • House
Jake Johnson
Republican • House
Donnie Loftis
Republican • House
Jeffrey C. McNeely
Republican • House
Larry C. Strickland
Republican • House
Bill Ward
Republican • House