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Content warning: This story includes details of an infant鈥檚 death.

After Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan in 2021, states were flush with federal funding to help prop the child care sector up. But that money is now all gone, and as Republicans in Congress threaten to pass that could further shrink state budgets, lawmakers are trying to find solutions to the child care crisis that don鈥檛 cost money. 

Many have proposed changing the mandated ratios that require a certain number of early educators to care for young kids. have considered rolling back child care regulations, including those governing staff-to-child ratios.

But while these deregulatory bills are common, it鈥檚 not a foregone conclusion that they will pass. Advocates in three states have been able to beat back these efforts in the legislative sessions that just wrapped up by mobilizing a wide variety of people to speak up against these proposals and deploying research-backed arguments about child safety and child care supply.

Eliminating Ratios Entirely 

Idaho advocates faced down the most extreme bill. In its original form, would have eliminated all requirements that limit the number of young children an early educator can care for, leaving it up to individual providers. It would have been the first state in the country to take such a step. 

Advocates had very little time to fight back. The bill got fast tracked; there was less than 24 hours鈥� notice before the first public hearing on it in the House. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 get child care providers and parents there in that amount of time,鈥� said Christine Tiddens, executive director of Idaho Voices for Children, a nonprofit that advocates for child-focused policies, noting that it requires moving work schedules and getting people to cover shifts. The bill sailed through the House.

Eventually, Tiddens said, they were able to put parents and providers in front of lawmakers to warn of the negative consequences. One of those parents was Idaho resident Kelly Emry. On June 10, 2024, she got a panicked call from the home-based child care provider where she had just started sending her 11-week-old son Logan. She dashed to the provider鈥檚 home and was told he was dead. The coroner’s report later confirmed he died from asphyxiation. According to Emry, the coroner said the provider put him down for a nap between a rolled up blanket and a pillow and left him there for hours. The provider was caring for 11 kids by herself that day, putting her with state regulations that, at the time, required at least two staff members. 

鈥淚t was completely preventable, and that鈥檚 what鈥檚 so hard for me to come to terms with,鈥� Emry said in a in January.

Emry wasn鈥檛 the only one who spoke up. Once the bill got to the Senate, advocates packed the hearing and overflow rooms with several hundred people. Among the 40 people who signed up to testify, 38 opposed the bill. Baby Logan鈥檚 uncle spoke, as did pediatricians, fire marshals, nurses, the state police, child welfare experts, child care providers and parents. Lawmakers were flooded with thousands of calls and emails from the opposition. Tiddens made sure every senator was sent the podcast interview with Emry.

The bill the Senate committee by a single vote. Advocates decided to try to stop the worst elements, knowing that the bill was likely to pass in some form. They asked a senator who opposed it to 鈥渢hrow a Hail Mary,鈥� Tiddens said. When the bill came to the Senate floor, he asked for unanimous support to pull it and move it into the amending process. He got it. The original elimination of staff-to-child ratios was stripped out; instead, the bill preserved ratios, albeit higher ones than before. Under previous law, Idaho ranked at No. 41 among all states for how high its ratios were; now it has dropped even further to No. 45.

The victory is 鈥渂ittersweet,鈥� Tiddens said. She attributes it almost solely to one thing: putting parents, not just businesses and child care providers, in front of lawmakers, which led to the moving account of Logan鈥檚 family, still in the midst of raw grief. 鈥淗ow could you listen and not have your heart changed?鈥� Tiddens asked.

Doubling Family Child Care Ratios

Advocates in Maryland have fought back against legislation to loosen staff-to-child ratios twice now. Last year, lawmakers introduced a bill to raise the ratios in family child care settings, but it died thanks to 鈥渁 lot of advocacy,鈥� said Beth Morrow, director of public policy at the Maryland Family Network, a nonprofit focused on child care. As in Idaho, the American Academy of Pediatrics and fire marshals warned about what would happen in the case of emergencies. Children under 2 years old are 鈥渘ot capable of self-preservation,鈥� Morrow pointed out; they might hide when a fire alarm goes off and can鈥檛 evacuate on their own. 鈥淚f there is an emergency you have to be able to get these kids out,鈥� she said.

The idea returned this year in , this time coupled with looser ratios for center-based care. Family providers are to care for eight children but no more than two under the age of 2; the legislation would have doubled that, allowing providers to watch as many as four children under the age of 1. That was a 鈥渘onstarter,鈥� Morrow said. It would also have been the first time that these rules were dictated by lawmakers rather than by the Maryland State Department of Education, which would have been barred from changing them in the future. 

So advocates marshalled research, with the help of national groups including the National Association for the Education of Young Children and Center for Law and Social Policy. They highlighted that there has been that stricter child care regulations lead to reduced supply. Lawmakers seemed moved by the that lower ratios support better health and safety for children.

During the markup session, the chief sponsor amended the bill by striking the language about higher ratios; instead, the version that passed requires the Department of Education to study child care regulations with an eye toward alleviating barriers for providers.

Ratio Increases by Another Name

In Minnesota, lawmakers took a different approach to proposing changes to the number of staff required to care for young children this session. Their legislation avoided mentioning the term 鈥渞atios鈥� at all. Instead, the issue was presented as an exemption for in-home child care providers caring for their own children as well. The legislation originally would have exempted as many as three of the providers鈥� own children from the number they are licensed to watch. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a direct ratio increase, no way around that,鈥� said Clare Sanford, vice president of government and community relations at New Horizon Academy, a child care and preschool provider. 鈥淵ou still have the same number of adults but you鈥檙e increasing the number of children that adult is responsible for.鈥�

In later drafts, the number of children who could be exempted kept being reduced. In the end the legislation didn鈥檛 get a standalone vote and the language was left out of the final state budget. The argument that Sanford thinks worked the best was that increasing ratios wouldn鈥檛 actually increase child care supply. That鈥檚 because, as a by NAEYC argues, they will lead to more burnout among providers, which will push them to leave and, in the end, reduce available child care spots.

The fight is far from over. Advocates in all three states expect lawmakers to try to loosen staff-to-child ratios again next session. Tiddens fears that, although Idaho didn鈥檛 eliminate ratios, the idea could spread. 鈥淚daho has often been a frontrunner for harmful legislation,鈥� she said. On the whole, more of these laws have been signed than stopped, said Diane Girouard, state policy senior analyst at ChildCare Aware of America. Ratio deregulation bills pop up 鈥渋n some states every single year,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 just unique to red, conservative states. It has happened in blue states, it has happened in purple states.鈥�

Advocates who oppose raising these ratios are formulating responses to the child care crisis that preserve safety standards without requiring state funding. In Maryland, for example, Morrow鈥檚 organization helped pass a bill that removes legal barriers to opening and operating family child care programs. The hope is that with more solutions on the table to increase child care supply, states won鈥檛 look to options that erode safety standards, such as increasing ratios. 

Tiddens has vowed to fight back. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going away, and we鈥檙e going to show up next session with our own proposal,鈥� she said. Her coalition plans to formulate a bill for next year that 鈥減rioritizes child safety at the same time as dealing with the child care shortage,鈥� she said.

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