California child care center license: how CDSS licenses a center

One license, several age components

The center license changed shape a few years ago, and that is the first thing to understand. California used to license infant centers, preschools and school-age centers separately. Health and Safety Code section 1596.951 directed CDSS to create a single child care center license, and it required that “before January 1, 2024, all daycare centers shall be licensed as childcare centers pursuant to this section.”⁠³ Title 22 now defines a “single license child care center” as one facility, at a common address, owned and run by one licensee, that may serve more than one age component.⁠⁴

In practice, you decide at application which components you will run: infant, toddler, preschool, school-age, and mildly ill children if you plan that program. The application has to list them.⁠⁸ Each component has to meet the regulations that apply to it, so each keeps its own ratios, space separations and staff qualifications.⁠⁸ If you add a component later, for example opening an infant room in a preschool, you file an amended Application for a Child Care Center License (LIC 200A). With it go a program description, a sketch showing where each age group will be, an outdoor activity schedule, and a new fire clearance if one is needed.⁠⁸ One license can also cover a center spread across several buildings at the same address.⁠⁸

The age lines matter because the rules change at each one. Title 22 defines an infant as a child under two.⁠⁴ A toddler component serves children from 18 to 36 months.⁠¹² School-age children are those in first grade or above, or in a program that serves only kindergartners and older.⁠⁴

Does your program need a center license?

No one may operate a child day care facility in California without a current license.⁠³² The definition of “day care center” covers infant centers, preschools, extended day care, school-age centers and centers licensed under section 1596.951.⁠¹ CDSS describes centers as usually in commercial buildings and limited to non-medical care for less than 24 hours.⁠³³ Running without a license is a misdemeanor, and CDSS lists a fine of $200 per day.⁠⁵

The neighbouring license is the family child care home. It covers 14 or fewer children in the provider’s own home, where the provider lives.⁠³⁰ CDSS’s orientation page puts it this way: centers “can provide care for more than 14 children” and require educational credits for directors and teachers.⁠⁶ CDSS’s Child Care Licensing Program oversees both license types through 21 regional offices.⁠²⁷ If you plan to work from your home, see the California family child care home guide.

Section 1596.792 lists programs that are exempt. These are the ones founders most often bump into:⁠²

• One other family. Caring for your own children plus the children of one other family.
• Unpaid parent cooperatives. Parents rotate as caregivers, no money changes hands, and no more than 12 children are in care at once.
• Short programs. A program open one day a week for no more than four hours. Also, instructional vacation programs whose sessions total no more than 30 days when only school-age children enroll, or 15 days when younger children enroll.
• Drop-off while parents stay on site. Temporary care for parents who remain on the premises. This exemption does not apply at a ski facility, shopping mall, department store or similar site.
• Public recreation programs. Programs run by cities, counties, districts and similar bodies, within limits on hours per week or weeks per year that depend on the children’s ages.
• School-run extended day care. Programs run by public or private schools, including expanded learning opportunity programs.

Recreation programs run by the YMCA, scouting groups, Boys and Girls Clubs, Camp Fire and organized camps are outside the law. If those organizations run child day care, though, that part needs a license.⁠²⁹

Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELO-P) operators. CDSS’s June 2026 notice confirms that an ELO-P operated under Education Code section 46120 can run without a center license if it meets the exemption criteria. Neither the local educational agency nor a third-party operator is exempt when serving children who are not enrolled in ELO-P, ASES or 21st Century Community Learning Centers. If a qualifying program gives up its license, CDSS recommends that it notify families in writing and remove the license number from its materials.⁠²⁴

The director qualification comes first

You cannot open without a qualified director, and in California that qualification takes years of experience, not just a certificate. Every single license center has at least one director. The director must be on the premises whenever the center is open, and a center with evening or night programs needs a director for each.⁠¹² Before employment, a director must meet one of four routes:⁠¹²

A year of experience counts only if it was at least three hours a day for 100 days in a calendar year, as a teacher supervised by someone who would qualify as a director.⁠¹² When the director is away, a fully qualified teacher acts as substitute. If the absence runs past 30 consecutive days, the substitute must meet director qualifications.⁠¹²

Infant and school-age components add rules of their own:

• Infants. For a director of infant care, at least three of the units must relate to infant care, and the experience must be with children under five.⁠¹⁵ Once 25 or more infants are in attendance, you also need an assistant director on duty who is a fully qualified infant teacher with 3 units in administration.⁠¹⁵
• School-age. In a center that also serves younger children, the director keeps responsibility for the school-age component but must designate a fully qualified school-age teacher for it.⁠¹⁵ A director of a center serving only school-age children may substitute 20 training hours for each unit, so 15 units or 300 hours, or a mix.⁠¹⁵

Teachers, aides and ratios

Teachers. Before employment a teacher needs at least 6 semester units of early childhood education or a Child Development Assistant Permit. After that, the teacher must complete 2 units each semester until reaching 12.⁠¹² A fully qualified teacher has one of three things:⁠¹²

• 12 units plus six months of experience, counted as 3 hours a day on 50 days within six months.
• A CDA credential with the right age endorsement plus six months of experience.
• A Child Development Associate Teacher, Teacher or Master Teacher Permit.

There is also a regional occupational program route for teachers 18 or older: 95 classroom hours plus 150 hours of supervised field experience.⁠¹² For infant teachers, the fact sheet lists 3 of the 12 units in infant care.⁠¹³

Aides. Anyone who provides care must be 18 or older, but a center can use aides under 18 if they are high school graduates or enrolled in an occupational program.⁠¹² An aide who helps a fully qualified teacher with up to 18 preschoolers needs 6 units of early childhood education, or must be completing 2 units each semester until reaching 6.⁠¹²

Sources: Title 22 sections 101216.3, 101230, 101416.5 and 101516.5, and the CDSS capacity fact sheet.⁠¹²⁠²⁸⁠¹⁵⁠¹⁴

Mixed-age school-age groups are staffed for the youngest child in the group.⁠¹⁵ The director counts toward the ratio only while actually teaching a group, and clerical, housekeeping and maintenance staff never count.⁠¹² Programs contracted through Title 5, such as state-funded child development programs, follow Title 5 ratios instead (for example 1 adult to 3 infants).⁠¹²

Space, toilets and the playground

Your licensed capacity is the maximum number of children present at any time. CDSS sets it from your fire clearance, the building’s physical features, your available staff, and your ability to comply, and it can license you for fewer children than you request.⁠⁸ These are the physical minimums, all calculated on total licensed capacity:⁠¹⁶

• Indoor activity space: 35 square feet per child. Bathrooms, halls, offices, isolation areas, food preparation areas, storage, shelving and built-in cabinets don’t count. The floor under children’s tables and chairs does.
• Outdoor activity space: 75 square feet per child. Pools, pool decking and natural or man-made hazards are excluded. The yard needs a shaded rest area and a fence at least 4 feet high. A split-rail fence is not acceptable because children can slip through, and barbed wire is not acceptable because it is a hazard. Fall surfaces under climbers, swings and slides must be sand, wood chips, pea gravel or commercial rubber mats, unless CDSS approves something else first.
• Toilets and sinks: one of each per 15 children or fraction of 15. You also need one more toilet and handwashing fixture set aside for ill children, staff and emergencies, near the isolation area. Urinals count only with two toilets for each urinal counted.

Infant space must be physically separate from older children’s space indoors and outdoors. Crib areas are excluded from infant activity space, and movable partitions must be at least 4 feet high.⁠¹⁵ The toddler component also needs its own area.⁠¹²

A school-age program run on a functioning school site, in rooms that house school children during the day or are certified for classroom use, is exempt from the indoor square-footage and toilet rules for those rooms; the school grounds outside the classrooms are exempt from the fencing, outdoor space, toilet and isolation-space rules. Each room’s capacity is then capped at the number of children a room that size is commonly approved for during the school day.⁠¹⁵

Fire clearance, water and local approvals

CDSS, not you, requests the fire clearance. When your application arrives, your Licensing Program Analyst (LPA) sends the request to the city or county fire department, fire district, or State Fire Marshal with jurisdiction.⁠⁷⁠⁸ If you plan to enroll nonambulatory children, you must say so in advance so the right clearance can be issued.⁠⁸ A school-age center on a school site can submit the school’s fire inspection instead, provided it shows no deficiencies.⁠¹⁵

The building standard the fire authority applies is in flux. Under AB 176, fire clearance inspections from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2026 apply the 2019 Title 24 occupancy rules (Chapter 3). The rules in the 2022 code do not apply during that period, unless the State Fire Marshal adopts new child care center regulations before January 1, 2027.⁠²⁰ If your inspection will fall in 2027, ask the fire authority which standard it will use.

Other site approvals:

• Private water. If your water comes from a private source, you need an onsite inspection and a bacteriological test before licensure. Retesting is quarterly at 25 or more children.⁠⁸
• City and county. CDSS’s orientation page notes that a center may need a local business license, depending on local requirements.⁠⁶ Two 2025 laws narrow this. Under AB 752, a center inside or on the grounds of multifamily housing with five or more units cannot be charged local business license fees or required to get a conditional use permit, though building and fire codes still apply.⁠²¹ Under SB 131, a project made up only of a day care center outside a residential area is exempt from CEQA review, except on natural or protected lands.⁠²¹
• Pools. Since January 1, 2025, a center with an in-ground pool needs a 60-inch enclosure (or a self-closing, self-latching door for an indoor pool), plus a second redundant barrier. You also need a 17-inch life ring and a 12-foot rescue pole, checked daily before opening and logged.⁠²⁰

The application, step by step

CDSS lays the process out in 11 steps. This is the order you’ll actually go through them:⁠⁷

1. Take both orientations

   Before filing, take the online Application Orientation ($50 plus a $4.85 processing fee) and the Operations and Record Keeping Orientation ($4.85 processing fee only). Center orientations are online only, and the fees are non-refundable.⁠⁷⁠⁶ The second orientation is also required for site supervisors and directors.⁠⁷ If you apply for another center within two years, you need not repeat them.⁠⁸

2. Assemble the LIC 281A package

   The LIC 281A booklet lists the required forms, including the Applicant Information Form (LIC 215) and, for an entity, the Administrative Organization form (LIC 309). The package also takes your lease, the names and addresses of officers and board members, articles, bylaws and the board resolution for a corporation, and the age components, capacity and hours you’re requesting.⁠⁸

3. Write the plan of operation

   Title 22 requires your program goals, admission policies and admission agreement, a staffing plan, and dimensioned sketches of the building and grounds that show room uses. It also requires one week of sample menus with meal times, transportation arrangements, and your rate-setting and refund policy.⁠⁸

4. Prove character and finances

   The statute requires evidence of financial resources to maintain the standards, character references and employment history. You must disclose any role, or ownership of 10 percent or more, in other licensed facilities, and any discipline against them.⁠⁹ You also post car-seat law signs at the entrance with the local health department’s phone number.⁠⁹⁠⁸

5. File with the regional office and pay

   Mail or drop the package at your local child care regional office with the application fee.⁠⁷ An LPA in the Centralized Application Bureau is assigned, and you receive a pending facility number.⁠⁷

6. Clear background checks

   See the next section.

7. Respond to the review

   The LPA checks compliance history and verifies your corporation or entity, and CDSS receives financial verification from your bank.⁠⁷ If materials are still missing after 90 days, CDSS sends a notice. Once that notice arrives, you have 30 days to complete the file, or the application is treated as withdrawn. This 30-day deadline does not apply to centers under construction.⁠⁸

8. Fire clearance and pre-licensing inspection

   The LPA inspects within 30 days of receiving all application materials, using CDSS’s Compliance and Regulatory Enforcement (CARE) Tool, and gives due dates for any corrections.⁠⁷

9. Decision

   CDSS must grant or deny within 30 days after it has all materials and clearances and the site has passed inspection.⁠³¹⁠⁷

A provisional license is possible if you are in substantial compliance with no life-safety risk and your fire and criminal record clearances are complete. It lasts six months and can be extended, but no provisional license runs past 12 months.⁠⁸ If you had a license revoked within the past two years, CDSS stops reviewing the application until two years have passed.⁠⁸

Background checks, health screening and training

Clearances. The applicant, directors and managers, everyone who provides care, and any staff or volunteer with contact with children need a criminal record clearance or exemption before their first presence in the center.⁠¹⁷ For a corporation, that includes the chief executive officer or a similar person responsible for operating the center.⁠¹⁷ Fingerprints go to the Department of Justice and FBI through Live Scan. Anyone who cares for children also needs a child abuse clearance. CDSS recommends creating each check in its Guardian system before fingerprinting, and existing clearances can sometimes transfer.⁠⁷⁠¹⁷

Health screening. All personnel, including the licensee and volunteers, need a physician-supervised health screening with a tuberculosis test, done no more than a year before or seven days after starting.⁠¹²

Mandated reporter training. The applicant must complete it before licensure. Staff and administrators must complete it within 90 days of hire, and everyone renews every two years.⁠¹⁸ AB 150 (2026) removed the old exemption for staff with limited English proficiency.⁠¹⁹

Health and safety training. For now, at least one director or teacher per center needs 15 hours of training in pediatric first aid, pediatric CPR and preventive health, plus 1 hour of nutrition.⁠⁸ Since January 1, 2026, that first aid or CPR course must cover anaphylaxis and epinephrine; staff trained before then comply at their next renewal.⁠²⁰ The requirement then widens. By October 1, 2027, all staff providing care in a center need the 16 hours and current pediatric first aid and CPR. From that date, everyone covered also needs 12 hours of continuing education a year on nine set topics, including safe sleep, emergency preparedness and medication administration.⁠¹⁹

Fees as published

Health and Safety Code section 1596.803 sets the center fees by capacity.⁠¹⁰

Other fees in the same section:⁠¹⁰

• Moving to a new address, or a change in who controls a corporate licensee’s board: 50% of the application fee.
• Changing capacity up or down: $25.
• Late annual fee: an extra 50%.
• Not carrying out a plan of correction on time: $200.
• License on probation: a probation monitoring fee equal to the annual fee.

CDSS does not waive fees, refund them except for its own error or an overpayment, or accept partial payments. Operators of several centers can ask for consolidated billing, which CDSS offers only to centers.⁠¹¹ AB 152 (2026) authorizes electronic signatures and electronic payment of any CDSS fee, with processing costs paid by the payer.⁠¹⁹

After the license: inspections and changes

A center license has no expiration date. It stays in effect until you surrender it or it is forfeited, suspended or revoked, and you pay the annual fee on each anniversary.⁠⁸⁠¹⁰ All site visits are unannounced.⁠²³ Under CDSS’s January 2024 notice, every center is inspected at least once every three years. A center is inspected every year if its license is on probation, a compliance plan calls for it, or an accusation is pending. CDSS also inspects at least 30 percent of the remaining centers each year by random sample, and it may inspect subsidy-funded facilities annually.⁠²²

Your plan of operation is binding. Changes that affect services to children need CDSS approval before you make them.⁠⁸ A change of location or capacity triggers the fees above, and adding an age component needs the amended application described earlier.⁠¹⁰⁠⁸

What changed in 2025-2026 and what is coming

• January 1, 2026. Under AB 2317 (2024), the pediatric first aid or CPR course must include anaphylaxis and epinephrine training.⁠²⁰
• 2025 laws. AB 752 and SB 131 added the local-approval relief described above.⁠²¹ AB 753, effective October 1, 2025, created a non-renewable assistant teacher permit from the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, valid for up to two years. It is available only to staff sponsored by an employer holding a state preschool or CDSS child development contract, with no more than one permit holder per classroom and permit holders in no more than half of a site’s classrooms.⁠²¹
• 2026 budget trailer bills. AB 150 and AB 152 were signed June 29, 2026, and AB 190 on September 18, 2026. Besides the training and plan changes above, AB 150 extended the medication administration rules to all medications, not just inhaled ones.⁠¹⁹
• January 1, 2027. Every center must meet the emergency and disaster plan rules in section 1596.868. That means training each new staff member and volunteer before they start, quarterly drills, an annual review, and keys ready for evacuation. Applicants submit the plan with the application.⁠¹⁹ The AB 176 window for fire occupancy standards also closes on this date.⁠²⁰
• October 1, 2027. The 16-hour training requirement for all care staff and the 12-hour annual continuing education requirement begin.⁠¹⁹
• January 1, 2028. Centers must follow the anaphylactic policy CDSS is due to publish by July 1, 2027.⁠¹⁹

Subsidies: CDSS is now the funder too

Since July 1, 2021, CDSS has run most of California’s subsidized child care, after the 2020-21 Budget Act moved it from the Department of Education. That includes CalWORKs Stages 2 and 3, Alternative Payment programs, General Child Care (CCTR), migrant programs and the Child and Adult Care Food Program.⁠²⁵ The Department of Education still runs the California State Preschool Program.⁠²⁶

A licensed center can be paid in two ways. The first is vouchers: CalWORKs and Alternative Payment Program families can use them at licensed centers, and the agency pays the provider directly. The second is a direct contract with the state for a fixed number of slots, under CCTR or the state preschool program. Contracted centers must meet both Title 5 and Title 22 rules, and Title 5 sets stricter ratios and staff qualifications.⁠²⁶ Federal Head Start operates separately through the Office of Head Start.⁠²⁶

For other California care licenses, see the California state page.

Sources

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   California Legislative Information, Health and Safety Code section 1596.76, definition of day care center Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
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   California Department of Social Services, Title 22, Division 12, Chapter 1, Articles 1-2, Child Care Centers (definitions, license required) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
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   California Department of Social Services, Do I Need a License? Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
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   California Department of Social Services, Register for an Orientation Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
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   California Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division, Steps to Obtaining a Child Care Center License Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
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