Early learning licensing

AN ACT Relating to early learning program licensing requirements; 1
and amending RCW 43.216.010. 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
Sec. 1. RCW 43.216.010 and 2025 c 181 s 1 are each amended to 4
read as follows: 5
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter 6
unless the context clearly requires otherwise. 7
(1) "Agency" means any person, firm, partnership, association, 8
corporation, or facility that provides child care and early learning 9
services outside a child's own home and includes the following 10
irrespective of whether there is compensation to the agency:11
(a) "Child day care center" and "child care center" mean an 12
agency that regularly provides early childhood education and early 13
learning services for a group of children for periods of less than 24 14
hours; 15
(b) "Early learning" includes but is not limited to programs and 16
services for child care; state, federal, private, and nonprofit 17
preschool; child care subsidies; child care resource and referral; 18
parental education and support; and training and professional 19
development for early learning professionals; 20
H-2680.1
HOUSE BILL 2317
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Eslick, Callan, Abbarno, Berry, Ryu, Dufault,
Paul, Nance, Zahn, Doglio, Dent, Macri, Fosse, Bergquist, Thai, and
Bernbaum
Prefiled 01/07/26. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on Early Learning & Human Services.
p. 1 HB 2317
(c) "Family day care provider" and "family home provider" mean a 1
child care provider who regularly provides early childhood education 2
and early learning services for not more than 12 children at any 3
given time in the provider's home in the family living quarters 4
except as provided in RCW 43.216.692 and subsection (2)(((m))) (n) of 5
this section; 6
(d) "Nongovernmental private-public partnership" means an entity 7
registered as a nonprofit corporation in Washington state with a 8
primary focus on early learning, school readiness, and parental 9
support, and an ability to raise a minimum of $5,000,000 in 10
contributions; 11
(e) "Outdoor nature-based child care" means an agency or an 12
agency-offered program that: 13
(i) Enrolls preschool or school-age children; 14
(ii) Provides early learning services to the enrolled children in 15
an outdoor natural space approved by the department for not less than 16
four hours per day or fifty percent of the daily program hours, 17
whichever is less; and 18
(iii) Teaches a nature-based curriculum to enrolled children;19
(f) "Service provider" means the entity that operates a community 20
facility. 21
(2) "Agency" does not include the following: 22
(a) Persons related to the child in the following ways:23
(i) Any blood relative, including those of half-blood, and 24
including first cousins, nephews or nieces, and persons of preceding 25
generations as denoted by prefixes of grand, great, or great-great;26
(ii) Stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, and stepsister;27
(iii) A person who legally adopts a child or the child's parent 28
as well as the natural and other legally adopted children of such 29
persons, and other relatives of the adoptive parents in accordance 30
with state law; or 31
(iv) Spouses of any persons named in (a)(i), (ii), or (iii) of 32
this subsection, even after the marriage is terminated;33
(b) Persons who are legal guardians of the child;34
(c) Persons who care for a neighbor's or friend's child or 35
children, with or without compensation, where the person providing 36
care for periods of less than 24 hours does not conduct such activity 37
on an ongoing, regularly scheduled basis for the purpose of engaging 38
in business, which includes, but is not limited to, advertising such 39
care; 40
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(d) Parents on a mutually cooperative basis exchange care of one 1
another's children; 2
(e) Nursery schools that are engaged primarily in early childhood 3
education with preschool children and in which no child is enrolled 4
on a regular basis for more than four hours per day;5
(f) Schools, including boarding schools, that are engaged 6
primarily in education, operate on a definite school year schedule, 7
follow a stated academic curriculum, and accept only school age 8
children; 9
(g) Seasonal camps. For purposes of this chapter, "seasonal camp" 10
means a program that: 11
(i) Operates for three months or less within a period of twelve 12
consecutive months; 13
(ii) Is engaged primarily in recreational or educational 14
activities conducted on a closely supervised basis; and15
(iii) Is owned by any person, organization, association, or 16
corporation, or is operated by a federal, state, county, or municipal 17
government; 18
(h) Facilities providing child care for periods of less than 24 19
hours when a parent or legal guardian of the child remains on the 20
premises of the facility for the purpose of participating in:21
(i) Activities other than employment; or 22
(ii) Employment of up to two hours per day when the facility is 23
operated by a nonprofit entity that also operates a licensed child 24
care program at the same facility in another location or at another 25
facility; 26
(i) Any entity that provides recreational or educational 27
programming for school age children only and the entity meets all of 28
the following requirements: 29
(i) The entity utilizes a drop-in model for programming, where 30
children are able to attend during any or all program hours without a 31
formal reservation; 32
(ii) The entity does not assume responsibility in lieu of the 33
parent, unless for coordinated transportation; 34
(iii) The entity is a local affiliate of a national nonprofit; 35
and 36
(iv) The entity is in compliance with all safety and quality 37
standards set by the associated national agency; 38
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(j) A part-day or school-day early childhood education and 1
assistance program or head start program that is located in a public 2
school building or on public school property;3
(k) A program operated by any unit of local, state, or federal 4
government; 5
(((k))) (l) A program located within the boundaries of a 6
federally recognized Indian reservation, licensed by the Indian 7
tribe; 8
(((l))) (m) A program located on a federal military reservation, 9
except where the military authorities request that such agency be 10
subject to the licensing requirements of this chapter;11
(((m))) (n) A family home provider located in the surrounding 12
metropolitan area of a federal military reservation and is overseen 13
and currently certified by a federal military service; or14
(((n))) (o) A program that offers early learning and support 15
services, such as parent education, and does not provide child care 16
services on a regular basis. 17
(3) "Applicant" means a person who requests or seeks employment 18
in an agency. 19
(4) "Certificate of parental improvement" means a certificate 20
issued under RCW 74.13.720 to an individual who has a founded finding 21
of physical abuse or negligent treatment or maltreatment, or a court 22
finding that the individual's child was dependent as a result of a 23
finding that the individual abused or neglected their child pursuant 24
to RCW 13.34.030(6)(b). 25
(5) "Conviction information" means criminal history record 26
information relating to an incident which has led to a conviction or 27
other disposition adverse to the applicant. 28
(6) "Department" means the department of children, youth, and 29
families. 30
(7) "Early achievers" means a program that improves the quality 31
of early learning programs and supports and rewards providers for 32
their participation. 33
(8) "Early childhood education and assistance program contractor" 34
means an organization that provides early childhood education and 35
assistance program services under a signed contract with the 36
department. 37
(9) "Early childhood education and assistance program provider" 38
means an organization that provides site level, direct, and high 39
quality early childhood education and assistance program services 40
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under the direction of an early childhood education and assistance 1
program contractor. 2
(10) "Education data center" means the education data center 3
established in RCW 43.41.400, commonly referred to as the education 4
research and data center. 5
(11) "Employer" means a person or business that engages the 6
services of one or more people, especially for wages or salary to 7
work in an agency. 8
(12) "Enforcement action" means denial, suspension, revocation, 9
modification, or nonrenewal of a license pursuant to RCW 10
43.216.325(1) or assessment of civil monetary penalties pursuant to 11
RCW 43.216.325(3). 12
(13) "Extended day program" means an early childhood education 13
and assistance program that offers early learning education for at 14
least 10 hours per day, a minimum of 2,000 hours per year, at least 15
four days per week, and operates year-round. 16
(14) "Family resource and referral linkage system" means a system 17
that connects families to resources, services, and programs for which 18
families are eligible and uses a database that is developed and 19
maintained in partnership with communities, health care providers, 20
and early learning providers. 21
(15) "Family resource center" means a unified single point of 22
entry where families, individuals, children, and youth in communities 23
can obtain information, an assessment of needs, referral to, or 24
direct delivery of family services in a manner that is welcoming and 25
strength-based. 26
(a) A family resource center is designed to meet the needs, 27
cultures, and interests of the communities that the family resource 28
center serves. 29
(b) Family services may be delivered directly to a family at the 30
family resource center by family resource center staff or by 31
providers who contract with or have provider agreements with the 32
family resource center. Any family resource center that provides 33
family services shall comply with applicable state and federal laws 34
and regulations regarding the delivery of such family services, 35
unless required waivers or exemptions have been granted by the 36
appropriate governing body. 37
(c) Each family resource center shall have one or more family 38
advocates who screen and assess a family's needs and strengths. If 39
requested by the family, the family advocate shall assist the family 40
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with setting its own goals and, together with the family, develop a 1
written plan to pursue the family's goals in working towards a 2
greater level of self-reliance or in attaining self-sufficiency.3
(16) "Full day program" means an early childhood education and 4
assistance program that offers early learning education for a minimum 5
of 1,000 hours per year. 6
(17) "Inspection report" means a written or digital record or 7
report created by the department that identifies or describes 8
licensing violations or conditions within an agency. An inspection 9
report does not include a child care facility licensing compliance 10
agreement as defined in RCW 43.216.395. 11
(18) "Low-income child care provider" means a person who 12
administers a child care program that consists of at least 80 percent 13
of children receiving working connections child care subsidy.14
(19) "Low-income neighborhood" means a district or community 15
where more than 20 percent of households are below the federal 16
poverty level. 17
(20) "Negative action" means a court order, court judgment, or an 18
adverse action taken by an agency, in any state, federal, tribal, or 19
foreign jurisdiction, which results in a finding against the 20
applicant reasonably related to the individual's character, 21
suitability, and competence to care for or have unsupervised access 22
to children in child care. This may include, but is not limited to:23
(a) A decision issued by an administrative law judge;24
(b) A final determination, decision, or finding made by an agency 25
following an investigation; 26
(c) An adverse agency action, including termination, revocation, 27
or denial of a license or certification, or if pending adverse agency 28
action, the voluntary surrender of a license, certification, or 29
contract in lieu of the adverse action; 30
(d) A revocation, denial, or restriction placed on any 31
professional license; or 32
(e) A final decision of a disciplinary board. 33
(21) "Nonconviction information" means arrest, founded 34
allegations of child abuse, or neglect pursuant to chapter 26.44 RCW, 35
or other negative action adverse to the applicant.36
(22) "Nonschool age child" means a child who is age six years or 37
younger and who is not enrolled in a public or private school.38
(23) "Part day program" means an early childhood education and 39
assistance program that offers early learning education for at least 40
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two and one-half hours per class session, at least 320 hours per 1
year, for a minimum of 30 weeks per year. 2
(24) "Private school" means a private school approved by the 3
state under chapter 28A.195 RCW. 4
(25) "Probationary license" means a license issued as a 5
disciplinary measure to an agency that has previously been issued a 6
full license but is out of compliance with licensing standards.7
(26) "Requirement" means any rule, regulation, or standard of 8
care to be maintained by an agency. 9
(27) "School age child" means a child who is five years of age 10
through 12 years of age and is attending a public or private school 11
or is receiving home-based instruction under chapter 28A.200 RCW.12
(28) "Secretary" means the secretary of the department.13
(29) "Washington state preschool program" means an education 14
program for children three-to-five years of age who have not yet 15
entered kindergarten, such as the early childhood education and 16
assistance program. 17
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