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Despite having room to serve more children, Middletown day care owner Peggy Fuentes often has to turn away families in desperate need of care. Each of her toddler classrooms has 10 students 鈥� the state caps class sizes for that age group at 12 鈥� but to fill the remaining seats, she鈥檇 have to hire another employee. That鈥檚 because a decades-old state regulation says day care classrooms have to have one adult for every five children between 18 and 36 months old.

With operating costs climbing across the board, , Fuentes said it simply isn鈥檛 feasible to pay another salary to accommodate just two more children.

鈥淚 have an inventory of childcare spots that I鈥檓 reluctant to use because it is cost prohibitive,鈥� said Fuentes, owner of On My Way Early Learning and Childcare Center, which serves around 240 children under 13.

New York state has some of the strictest staffing requirements in the country 鈥� stricter, in fact, than New York City鈥檚. As state leaders allocate billions of dollars to address the childcare shortage in this year鈥檚 budget, a new state law could ease those requirements and unlock new day care seats at no additional cost to providers 鈥� but only if the state agency that oversees childcare decides to act on it.  

In December, Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation eliminating a provision that has prohibited the state Office of Children and Family Services from relaxing childcare staffing ratios. The new law leaves it to the agency to actually change the ratios; if it did so, the same number of workers could care for more children.  

State Senator James Skoufis, who introduced the bill in 2024, told New York Focus that adjusting the ratios is 鈥渕ore critical than ever鈥� amid the state鈥檚 ongoing efforts to scale up its childcare sector and provide more affordable care to working parents.

Childcare advocates who oppose the change are concerned having the same number of staff supervising more children would increase the risk of accidents and injuries and fail to address a root cause of the state鈥檚 childcare crisis: low wages for workers.

Supporters counter that looser ratios are consistent with set by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, a professional membership organization that promotes high-quality early childhood education, and that alignment with the group鈥檚 guidance would offer flexibility to providers who already operate with razor-thin profit margins.

So far, OCFS has not indicated whether it plans to update the regulations. In a statement provided to New York Focus, OCFS spokesperson Daniel Marans said the agency is 鈥渃urrently assessing the viability of the requested ratio change, with the goal of supporting childcare providers without compromising our commitment to child safety.鈥� The law does not impose a deadline for OCFS to make the switch.

More than 60 percent of New York鈥檚 census tracts are classified as a 鈥渃hildcare desert,鈥� meaning that there are three or more children under 5 waiting for every available slot, according to the . Meanwhile, more than 16,000 children are specifically as a result of staffing shortages that have led programs to operate under capacity. While that鈥檚 not necessarily related to staffing ratios, some think easing them could help address the shortage.

鈥淲e can provide more resources to counties and to providers all we want, but if we don鈥檛 provide the very common sense flexibility that these providers require in order to effectuate creating more seats, then the money is only going to go so far,鈥� said Skoufis.

Skoufis introduced the bill after providers, including Fuentes, expressed their frustrations to lawmakers over being held to tougher ratios than their counterparts in New York City, where staffing requirements are set by the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Day care providers in the five boroughs must have one staff member for every five children between 12 and 18 months and one for every six children who are 2 years old. In the rest of the state, it鈥檚 1鈥�4 and 1鈥�5, respectively. The discrepancies are even wider for older children.

Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi, who sponsored the bill, believes aligning ratios with New York City could help thousands of those families access a seat without burdening providers or taxpayers with additional costs.

鈥淐hildcare providers are operating on such slim margins that they frequently worry about going out of business,鈥� Hevesi said. 鈥淲e were looking for a way to give them some breathing room in an incredibly difficult climate without costing anybody any money.鈥�

Dede Hill, vice president of policy at the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, a social policy and advocacy organization, has a different perspective. 鈥淥ne thing that makes childcare in New York state so high quality is because we have low ratios 鈥� and that鈥檚 certainly not something we want to step away from,鈥� she said. Hill is a member of the Empire State Campaign for Child Care, which advocates for universal childcare.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think staffing ratios are the solution to the tremendous issues we have related to supply,鈥� said Hill. The key is more investment in the workforce, including higher pay for childcare workers, she said.

One reason providers are facing significant financial strain is that the state鈥檚 reimbursement level for its , which covers nearly all of the cost of childcare for low- and middle-income families, isn鈥檛 enough to provide high quality care, Hill said. With providers forced to absorb the shortfall, many are unable to offer adequate wages: In 2025, the annual average salary for childcare workers in New York , lower than 96 percent of other jobs.

Fuentes, who has owned her day care center in Orange County for 17 years, said she currently has to choose between raising tuition for all children in order to pay another employee and waitlisting families even though there is ample space to serve them. If OCFS chose to align statewide staffing ratios with New York City, she said, she could enroll around 15 more children without hiring additional staff.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a childcare crisis in New York,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f we can鈥檛 use our full supply of seats, then that crisis is just going to continue.鈥�

For Heidi-Jo Brandt, president of a union representing more than 8,800 providers outside New York City, the flexibility doesn鈥檛 seem worth it. Some revisions to standards may be appropriate, such as the current 1鈥�2 ratio for children under 2 in home-based care, she said, but a broader relaxing of staffing ratios could put children at risk. Research shows inadequate supervision is the main cause of injuries in childcare settings, including , , and from bottle warmers.

鈥淲hile it could have a tremendous impact statewide, our concern is always for the safety of children,鈥� said Brandt.

Some research indicates that high staff-to-child ratios and smaller group sizes are critical for children鈥檚 health, safety, and development, but data on the safety outcome of ratios like New York City鈥檚 is limited.

In recent years, as the childcare industry has reeled from a pandemic-driven dip in enrollment and rise in operating costs, have proposed loosening their childcare staffing ratios, increasing maximum group sizes, and relaxing other regulations to meet demand. Many states set ratios based on guidance from the National Association for the Education of Young Children; New York City鈥檚 ratios are roughly in line with the group鈥檚 recommendations.

Meanwhile, New York state has some of the most stringent ratios nationwide. It is that uses the restrictive ratios recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds. Even New York City鈥檚 staffing ratios remain stricter than those in many other states.

Skoufis first introduced the bill after then-OCFS Commissioner Suzanne Miles-Gustave informed him that aligning statewide ratios with New York City would require legislation. At the time, he said, OCFS officials 鈥渕ade it crystal clear鈥� they wanted to pursue the changes, though he鈥檚 less clear on their position today.

In a January letter to current OCFS Commissioner DaMia Harris-Madden, Skoufis argued that it is 鈥渇inancially unreasonable鈥� to require a 1鈥�5 staff-to-child ratio for 18- to 36-month-olds with a maximum group size of 12.

Hevesi said that he believes the agency should 鈥渁ct sooner rather than later鈥� given the potential benefits.

鈥淢y instinct is that there鈥檚 going to be support to look at this and see what鈥檚 appropriate 鈥� but my role was just to take the handcuffs off and now they are free to do whatever they feel is appropriate,鈥� he said.

Buffalo day care owner Emily Thrasher pointed out that New York City and state regulations differ on other aspects of childcare: The city also has more lenient classroom space requirements than the rest of the state, as well as different age group definitions that determine other regulations. For example, New York City defines a toddler as a child between 12 and 24 months old, while New York state鈥檚 definition is 18 to 36 months.

Thrasher said full alignment with New York City鈥檚 standards would allow her small business to generate hundreds of thousands of additional dollars annually. That, in turn, would enable her to serve more families.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 even imagine how much that would compound for larger day care centers,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e could help more families, open more slots, pay our staff more. 鈥� The changes seem small, but it would make the biggest difference.鈥�

This story originally appeared in , a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York. .

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