Child care qualifications

AN ACT Relating to child care provider qualifications; amending 1
RCW 43.216.755; and creating a new section. 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that the 4
COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic impact on all people, but had a 5
particularly dramatic impact on child care and the child care 6
industry. Many child care facilities closed during the COVID-19 7
pandemic and providers left the child care field. It became clear 8
during the COVID-19 pandemic how critical child care is to the 9
success of every industry as parents need child care to work.10
(2) The legislature further finds that because of the 11
unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the child care 12
industry, the plans of many child care providers to receive education 13
were put on hold as efforts were focused on addressing the immediate 14
needs of child care providers and families. Additionally, the current 15
market-based funding model results in wages so low that affording 16
college tuition is often impossible for child care providers. The 17
limited availability of college courses in multiple languages and the 18
scarcity of early childhood education college programs further 19
hinders access to required training and certification.20
H-0763.1
HOUSE BILL 1648
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Dent, Eslick, Burnett, Penner, Jacobsen, and
Graham
Read first time 01/28/25. Referred to Committee on Early Learning &
Human Services.
p. 1 HB 1648
(3) For those reasons, the legislature intends to delay the 1
requirement for child care providers to meet certification and 2
training qualification conditions. Additionally, to recognize the 3
professionalism and experience of individuals currently in the child 4
care field, the legislature intends to add a work equivalency option 5
as an alternative to certification requirements for all child care 6
positions. This work equivalency alternative should take into account 7
the years of service child care providers have committed to educating 8
children, while allowing for upward mobility within the field. 9
Without this alternative, there is an education cliff that 10
discourages child care professionals to remain in the field.11
Sec. 2. RCW 43.216.755 and 2020 c 342 s 2 are each amended to 12
read as follows: 13
(1) By ((July)) August 1, ((2021)) 2025, the department shall 14
implement a noncredit-bearing, community-based training pathway for 15
licensed child care providers to meet professional education 16
requirements associated with child care licensure. The community-17
based training pathway must be offered as an alternative to existing 18
credit-bearing pathways available to providers. 19
(2) ((The department shall consult with the following 20
stakeholders in the development and implementation of the community-21
based training pathway: The statewide child care resource and 22
referral network, a community-based training organization that 23
provides training to licensed family day care providers, a statewide 24
organization that represents the interests of family day care 25
providers, a statewide organization that represents the interests of 26
licensed child day care centers, an organization that represents the 27
interests of refugee and immigrant communities, a bilingual child 28
care provider whose first language is not English, an organization 29
that advocates for early learning, an organization representing 30
private and independent schools, and the state board for community 31
and technical colleges.32
(3))) The community-based training pathway must:33
(a) Align with adopted core competencies for early learning 34
professionals; 35
(b) Be made available to providers in multiple languages;36
(c) Include culturally relevant practices; ((and))37
p. 2 HB 1648
(d) Be made available at low cost to providers and at prices 1
comparable to the cost of similar community-based trainings, not to 2
exceed ((two hundred and fifty dollars)) $250 per person; ((and))3
(e) Be accessible to providers in rural and urban settings; and4
(f) Be made available in an online format. 5
(((4))) (3) The department shall allow licensed child care 6
providers until at least August 1, ((2026)) 2035, or until at least 7
10 years following the full implementation by the department of all 8
components of the community-based training pathway, whichever is 9
later, to: 10
(a) Comply with child care licensing rules that require a 11
provider to hold an early childhood education initial certificate 12
((or)), an early childhood education short certificate , or an early 13
childhood education state certificate; ((or))14
(b) Complete community-based pathway trainings; or15
(c) Demonstrate to the department work experience-based 16
competency after having worked in a licensed child care setting for 17
at least three years, which is not required to be a continuous three-18
year period, but could include multiple periods of work in a licensed 19
child care setting at different times.20
(4) The department may not require licensed child care providers 21
to complete annual in-service training requirements in order to 22
demonstrate work experience-based competency described under 23
subsection (3)(c) of this section.24
(5) After August 1, 2033, the department must allow all child 25
care providers who are hired for the first time into a role requiring 26
an early childhood education initial, short, or state certification a 27
minimum of 10 years from the person's date of hire into the role 28
requiring such certification to meet the requirements of subsection 29
(3) of this section. 30
(((5) For the purposes of this section, "demonstrated competence" 31
means an individual has shown that he or she has the skills to 32
complete the required work independently.))33
--- END ---
p. 3 HB 1648