• Meet higher quality standards according to Oklahoma’s Quality Rating Improvement System. • Offer financial incentives for staff to reach higher levels of education or professional development. • Offer certain benefits to program staff such as health insurance, paid leave, time off, retirement, etc. • Make it more attractive for people to enter early childhood education as a career. Consider providing tax credits for ECCE professionals to encourage more to join the ECCE workforce.
• Improve relationships between the Oklahoma Human Servcies and ECCE providers to create a more cooperative and collaborative system of enforcement and communication about regulations. Help them understand the “why” behind regulations and when new regulations are adopted.
• Evaluate the caregiver-to-child ratio requirements.
• Evaluate the USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program since the cost of purchasing and preparing nutritious food presents a challenge due to inflation.
• Bolster the existing Oklahoma Child Care Wage Supplement program.
Regulations
• Improve partnerships with providers in the process of inspecting and licensing child care facilities. • Reduce the amount of time it takes to obtain fingerprint results and background checks to speed up the time to get a child care professional license. Additionally, allow fingerprint/background checks received during educational training to be transferrable to an employer. • Provide categorical eligibility for child care assistance to individuals working in a licensed child care facility, meaning they would qualify for assistance because they belong to a protected class not based on their income. • Evaluate cumbersome requirements for outdoor play spaces, adequate egress, and regulations related to bathroom facilities.
What Employers Can Do
Policies
• Provide flexible schedules and remote work when possible.
• Provide part-time positions and creativity with scheduling employees.
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