Oklahoma child care center license: how OKDHS licenses a center

Hours, not headcount, decide which license you need

Oklahoma sets the license type by how many hours a week you are open. Most states use the number of children. Under the Oklahoma Child Care Facilities Licensing Act, a “child care center” is “a program that operates thirty (30) or more hours per week” ⁠². OKDHS licenses six kinds of “child care programs” under one rule book, Publication 14-05, and each has its own addendum and, in some cases, its own ratios ⁠¹⁠³:

The statute defines a part-day program as more than 15 and “up to” 30 hours, and the rule says “less than 30.” At exactly 30 hours a week, you meet the center definition in both ⁠²⁠¹.

If the care is in your own home, you are in the home-based track instead. A family child care home cares for seven or fewer children, and a large family child care home for eight to twelve. Both are licensed under a separate OKDHS publication. See the Oklahoma family child care home guide ⁠².

Programs that do not need a license

Section 403 of the Act lists the exemptions. The ones founders most often rely on are ⁠²:

• care for 15 or fewer hours a week, programs running less than 10 weeks a year, and summer programs open less than 8 hours a day;
• school-age-only, center-based care for 21 or fewer hours a week, in a county with fewer than 100,000 people at the last federal census;
• programs for children 3 and older run during typical school hours by a public school district, or by a private school that offers kindergarten through third grade;
• drop-in care where the parents stay on the premises and are readily accessible;
• single-activity programs (academics, athletics, gymnastics, art, music, dance) not designed for child care;
• programs where parents do not enroll the children and the children are free to come and go;
• programs on tribal land, or on a military base or other federal property.

The Act applies “equally” to public and private facilities. Incorporating a company to run the center does not exempt it ⁠².

What must happen before OKDHS lets you open

Three rules set the order of everything else:

• No children before authorization. You do not accept children until Licensing authorizes you, and you care for them only at the address on the permit or license. No child stays 24 or more consecutive hours ⁠¹.
• Fire approval first. The local or state fire authority with jurisdiction must inspect the building before OKDHS authorizes you to operate ⁠¹.
• Health approval first. The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH), or Indian Health Services, must also inspect the building first. The only exception is a program that provides “limited food service”: it serves only foods that need no time or temperature control, for immediate eating, using single-service items. Parent-provided meals can fall under this exception if you send reusable dishes home daily ⁠¹.

The statute adds two more gates. OKDHS cannot grant a permit or license until every background-check requirement in § 404.1 is met. Everyone who will be left alone with children must also have finished the required CPR, first aid, health and safety training and minimum education ⁠². In other words, your opening staff must be hired, checked and trained before the permit, not after.

The building: square footage, toilets and fencing

Licensed capacity is the lowest of four numbers: capacity based on toilets and sinks, capacity based on indoor square footage, capacity based on outdoor square footage, and any limit on the fire inspection report ⁠¹. Your staff’s own children count toward it when they are present and not working ⁠¹. Capacity also sets how many master teachers you need and how much equipment you must have ⁠¹.

Indoor square footage does not count restrooms, kitchens, hallways, storage, offices and staff rooms, or floor space taken up by adult furniture. It also leaves out rooms used only for eating, napping, gross motor play or ill children ⁠¹. Basements, partly below-grade areas and upper floors count only if the fire authority approves them, and the fire report will note any age limits. A gymnasium counts toward capacity only when it is divided into classrooms for children 3 and older ⁠¹. If your outdoor area is smaller than 75 square feet per child of capacity, you must rotate groups outside on a written classroom schedule ⁠¹.

Other building rules that affect a site search ⁠¹:

• Construction plans for a new building, an addition or a remodel go to the fire authority for approval before construction. New or remodeled space must meet current building and fire codes.
• Manufactured and mobile homes are prohibited. The only exception is a program licensed in one before February 1, 1981 that has not moved.
• Painted surfaces may not contain more than 0.06 percent lead.
• Children’s areas must stay between 65 and 80 °F. Portable fuel-burning heaters, open-flame heaters (including wood-burning fireplaces and pellet stoves) and vent-free heaters are banned.
• Classroom dividers for children 4 and younger must be at least three feet high.

Sharing a building with another business

No unrelated business may run at the facility during your hours unless you meet the shared-facility rule. The other business must pose no risk to children and have its own entrance. It also needs its own restrooms, unless OKDHS approves a written plan that keeps its people from having unsupervised access to children ⁠¹. If the other tenant uses your licensed play space during your hours, you need a designated alternate play area and a written agreement that Licensing approves ⁠¹.

Staffing: the director, master teachers and ratios

Director

The director must ⁠¹:

• be at least 21;
• have satisfactory work experience;
• hold a current bronze or higher Oklahoma Director’s Credential;
• not be the director or master teacher of another program open at the same time.

The director must be on site at least 50 percent of operating hours or 30 hours a week, whichever is less. When your ratios require four or more teaching staff, the director must also be free of direct care for at least three hours a day. Within one month of starting, the director completes an OKDHS requirements compliance review form, and CPR and first aid certification must be in place within three months. The director also registers the program as a direct care organization on the Oklahoma Professional Development Registry ⁠¹. When the director is away, a “personnel in charge” who is at least 21 runs the program ⁠¹.

Qualifying experience means at least 30 hours a week as a teacher, master teacher, family child care home primary caregiver, assistant director or director, in a licensed or legally exempt child care setting. The Director’s Entry Level Training (DELT) course covers 20 of the 40 administration clock-hours ⁠¹. Higher levels shorten the experience requirement: copper (a bachelor’s degree) needs 12 months, silver 9, gold 6 and platinum 3, and each requires 30 renewal hours a year ⁠¹. By statute, a bachelor’s or graduate degree meets OKDHS’s educational requirements for a full-time center director ⁠².

Master teachers, teachers and assistants

You need at least one master teacher for every 60 children of licensed capacity, not of attendance. A master teacher is at least 18, has a high school diploma or GED, and holds an Oklahoma Professional Development Ladder (OPDL) certificate at Level 4 or higher. Each must be on site at least half your hours or 30 hours a week, whichever is less ⁠¹. The director can count as a master teacher if qualified. A replacement master teacher can work on a one-year probationary period, which Licensing can extend for a second year. However, master teacher education must be fully met for the initial permit, for license issuance and for any capacity increase ⁠¹.

Teachers must be 18. They need a diploma or GED, or they can have completed 10th grade and be working toward a GED, finishing within 12 months. Assistant teachers can be 16 but may not be alone with a group for more than three hours a day. One teacher may oversee no more than two assistants at a time ⁠¹.

All teaching staff need an OPDL certificate within 12 months of hire. Teaching staff hired after August 1, 2003 need an approved entry-level course (such as ELCCT) within 90 days of hire, unless they already completed one. Staff get orientation within one week and before they are alone with a group, infection control training every 12 months, and safe-sleep training before caring for infants ⁠¹. At least one person with current CPR and first aid certification must be with children at all times: in each building, on outings, and in each vehicle ⁠¹.

Ratios and group sizes

Only teaching personnel count toward ratios. The ratio must be met at all times ⁠¹. For centers, drop-in and part-day programs:

Mixed-age groups have their own chart with sub-limits per adult. Three of its rows ⁠¹:

• infants through 2s: 1:6, no more than two infants per adult, group of 12;
• 2s and older: 1:12, no more than four 2-year-olds per adult, group of 24;
• 4s and older: 1:18, no more than eight 4-year-olds per adult, group of 36.

If a mixed group fails that chart, you may use the single-age chart based on the youngest child ⁠¹. Drivers do not count toward the ratio when they transport children 3 or younger, unless only one or two children are in the vehicle ⁠¹.

Background checks and who may not be involved

Before a permit or license, each owner and “responsible entity” (anyone authorized to obligate the business) needs ⁠²:

• an Oklahoma State Courts Network search;
• a Restricted Registry search;
• a fingerprint-based national criminal history check;
• an out-of-state check for anyone who lived elsewhere in the last five years;
• searches of the sex offender files and of child abuse and neglect registries in states lived in within five years;
• searches of the OSDH nontechnical services worker abuse registry and the OKDHS community services worker registry.

The rules extend checks to staff, anyone with unsupervised access to children, and adults living in the facility. Criminal history reviews are repeated every five years, without new fingerprinting ⁠¹. You may hire someone while their national fingerprint result is pending, but they may not have unsupervised access to children until it comes back. You also need three non-relative references for each hire, two from the most recent employers where applicable ⁠¹.

The rule lists the permanent prohibitions. They include felonies such as child abuse, spousal abuse, rape or sexual assault, kidnapping, arson and physical assault, as well as a drug-related felony within the past five years unless a waiver is granted. Other offenses are “restrictions” that a waiver request can overcome ⁠¹. No one with an impaired-driving offense in the last five years may transport children ⁠¹. Section 404.1 was last amended effective January 1, 2026 ⁠².

Insurance, policies and records you need on day one

Liability insurance. Section 404.3 (“Demarion’s Law”) requires general liability coverage of at least $200,000 per occurrence that covers injury to a child from negligence. A licensed insurance agent signs a standard OKDHS form, completed annually and kept on file ⁠²⁠¹. If you cannot get coverage, have exhausted the limits, or self-insure, you must take three steps ⁠²:

• post a notice at the main entrance in boldface letters at least three-quarters of an inch tall;
• notify OKDHS;
• keep a signed acknowledgment from every parent.

Failure to comply is grounds for suspension or revocation ⁠².

Written policies. Your program policy goes to parents at enrollment and to staff at hire. It must cover at least these items ⁠¹:

• ages accepted and hours, including closed days;
• where your compliance file is kept;
• emergency plans;
• illness exclusion criteria, including head lice;
• medication;
• discipline and your expulsion policy;
• mandatory abuse reporting;
• your infant safe-sleep environment;
• procedures for building access, releasing children, transportation, field trips and meals.

With two or more staff, you also need a personnel policy, including close supervision of new staff for at least 30 days. If you use volunteers, you need a volunteer policy ⁠¹.

Meals. Centers must provide meals and snacks for children ages 2 through 5 who have not started kindergarten ⁠¹.

Applying through OKDHS, step by step

1. Confirm your program type

   Use the hours test above. If you will run more than one type (for example a center plus a summer day camp), check each type’s addendum in Publication 14-05 ⁠¹.

2. Start the request online

   OKDHS’s Child Care Inquiry page links to an “Open a child care program” portal for new applicants ⁠⁵. Licensing’s December 2024 draft procedures describe the request for license being submitted online with proof of ownership. Licensing staff then refer you to the fire and health departments and to local city and zoning officials ⁠⁶. Child Care Services can be reached at (405) 521-3561 or (844) 834-8314, and the licensing contact for each county is listed on the Child Care Licensing page ⁠⁴.

3. Clear local zoning and building review

   Oklahoma’s licensing rules defer to the local building and fire codes, and plans for new construction or remodeling go to the fire authority before work starts ⁠¹. Zoning is a city or county matter. Licensing only refers you to it ⁠⁶.

4. Pass the fire inspection and the OSDH health inspection

   Both are required before authorization, unless you qualify for the limited-food-service exception from the health inspection ⁠¹.

5. Complete background checks and opening training

   Owners and responsible entities must clear the § 404.1 checks. Anyone who will be alone with children needs CPR, first aid, health and safety training and the minimum education before OKDHS can grant the permit ⁠². Your director’s credential and master teacher qualifications must already be met ⁠¹.

6. Application monitoring visit

   A licensing specialist visits to check compliance and gives you any incomplete or incorrect items in writing. During the visit, the specialist also discusses star-rating criteria and subsidy contracts ⁠⁶.

7. Permit, then license

   A new center may be issued a six-month permit. Licensing staff must complete a full monitoring visit no more than 60 days before it, and the file must hold the Form 07LC004E request and proof of ownership, director credential verification and required master teachers, personnel forms, Form 07LC057E (physical plant, with drawing and calculation), equipment for the proposed capacity, fire approval from the previous 12 months and, where meals are prepared and served, health approval from the same period ⁠⁹. If requirements are still unmet when the permit ends, OKDHS may recommend a second or later six-month permit, each with extra supervisor sign-off ⁠⁹. A license is issued after at least three monitoring visits (children observed during at least one) and an equipment inventory, and stays in effect unless revoked or the program voluntarily closes ⁠⁹⁠².

Under the December 2024 draft, an applicant that has had no children in care and has stayed on application status for more than 12 months is asked to withdraw, and the case is closed either way ⁠⁶. Treat that as a draft rule until OKDHS confirms the adopted text.

Fees

We found no license or permit fee in the Licensing Act or in Publication 14-05 as published on 2026-10-12 ⁠²⁠¹. Fire, health and local permit charges are set by those agencies, and we did not find their amounts in OKDHS materials. Ask Child Care Services at (405) 521-3561 whether OKDHS itself charges anything for a center permit or license, and ask the fire authority, OSDH and your city or county for their inspection and permit costs ⁠⁴.

After you open: inspections, changes and enforcement

• Recurring inspections. The fire authority and OSDH (or IHS) re-inspect at least every two years, and you keep the reports in your records ⁠¹. OKDHS may enter and examine any part of the facility at any reasonable time ⁠²⁠¹.
• Annual items. These include the insurance form or notice, director renewal hours (20 at bronze), infection control training, equipment inventory and parent conferences ⁠¹⁠².
• Change of owner. A permit or license cannot be transferred ⁠¹. A buyer or heir who keeps the same staff may operate under the old license and star rating for 90 days, but must notify OKDHS by the next business day and before taking over. If the buyer has not met every owner requirement by day 90, children cannot be in care until OKDHS authorizes it ⁠².
• Moving. You cannot care for children at a new address until OKDHS authorizes it ⁠¹.
• Going dark. If you provide no care for 12 consecutive months, your authorization ends and you must reapply ⁠¹.
• Denial and revocation. OKDHS gives 30 days’ written notice, and a hearing follows if you appeal within 30 days. After a denial or revocation, the owner cannot apply for a new child care program license in Oklahoma for five years, and the clock runs during the appeal ⁠¹.

Star ratings and the child care subsidy

Oklahoma’s quality rating system automatically designates every program operating on a permit or license as one-star ⁠⁷. Higher stars require a separate online request and a compliance review ⁠⁷. OKDHS’s December 2024 emergency proposal would allow only two- or three-star certification while on a permit, require a full license for four or five stars, and make accreditation mandatory for five stars ⁠⁷.

Only licensed providers with an OKDHS subsidy contract can receive child care subsidy payments. The Child Care Subsidy Unit handles contracts at (405) 521-3431 or [email protected] ⁠⁸. For centers with 50 or more children of capacity, the statute lets you ask that the comprehensive star-rating visit be scheduled at least a week ahead ⁠².

Sources

1. 1
   Oklahoma Human Services, Licensing Requirements for Child Care Programs, Publication 14-05 (OAC 340:110-3-275 to 340:110-3-311), effective 11/1/2025 Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   Oklahoma Legislature, Oklahoma Statutes Title 10, Oklahoma Child Care Facilities Licensing Act (10 O.S. § 401 et seq.) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   Oklahoma Human Services, Child Care Services, Licensing Requirements Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   Oklahoma Human Services, Child Care Services, Child Care Licensing Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   Oklahoma Human Services, Child Care Services, Child Care Inquiry Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   Oklahoma Human Services, Proposed permanent rule amendments, OAC 340:110-1 (circular 25-110, December 2, 2024) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   Oklahoma Human Services, Proposed emergency rule amendments, OAC 340:110-1-8.3 and related QRIS rules (circular 25-01, December 20, 2024) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   Oklahoma Human Services, Child Care Services, Contracting with Oklahoma Human Services Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
9. 9
   Oklahoma Human Services, Oklahoma Administrative Code, Types of issuance, OAC 340:110-1-8 (text as reproduced by Cornell Legal Information Institute) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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