South Dakota day care center license: floor plans, fire code and DSS rules

Which license: center, group family home or registration

South Dakota sorts child care by headcount, not by building. Under SDCL 26-6-14, care for 21 or more children on a regular basis, for part of a day, is a day care center “in any facility, including a family home.” Care for 13 to 20 children is a group family day care home. The headcount includes children under 6 who live in the home.⁠¹ The licensing rules call both types “center programs” and apply the same standards to both. Only the construction rules differ.⁠²

DSS states the consequence plainly: licensed child care programs (13 or more children) “are mandated by law to be licensed prior to operating, regardless of funding source.” A program can sit in the owner’s home or in a separate building, and it can be nonprofit or for-profit.⁠⁶ State rules may not require you to incorporate as a nonprofit.⁠¹

Below 13 children, the rules change completely. A home caring for up to 12 children needs a DSS registration only if it takes public child care money. Privately paid homes need neither registration nor a license.⁠¹ That path is covered in the South Dakota family day care registration guide. Informal and in-home providers are exempt as well.⁠⁷

Other carve-outs in chapter 26-6:

• School boards. Day care a school board provides for the children of its enrolled students falls outside the chapter.⁠¹
• Before- and after-school programs. These are a separate license category, capped at four hours a day per child, with their own space standard (25 square feet indoors per child instead of 35).⁠¹⁠²
• Programs regulated by another agency. DSS may waive licensure for a facility that another state agency already regulates in a similar way. The facility must ask for the waiver and document its current approval.⁠¹

Your license states the number, ages and sex of the children you may serve.⁠¹ The statute lets a center go over that number in two cases. You may add up to 20% more children if they are school-age and come only before or after school, or are there because of a family emergency. A center with a preschool program may add up to 10% more children who attend only the preschool. Every extra child counts toward your staff ratios.⁠¹

A license that does not expire, and one that does

Most states make centers renew every year or two. South Dakota does not. Under SDCL 26-6-13, a license for a day care center or a before-and-after-school program “shall remain in effect until revoked or suspended.” Every other license under the chapter, including the group family day care home license, lasts one year from issuance and must be renewed each year.⁠¹ If you expect to grow from 20 children to 21 or more, plan for that change: it moves you from an annual license to one that does not lapse, and it brings a fire alarm with pull stations (see below).

Under the same statute, a license cannot be assigned or transferred, it covers only the licensee and the address on the application, and it must be displayed.⁠¹ Buying an existing center does not get you its license. You go back through floor plan review. If the floor plan is not changing, the new owner can sign and date the existing plans and complete the program proposal. DSS recommends finishing this review before the sale closes.⁠⁴

If you cannot yet meet every standard but your services are needed, the statute allows a provisional license, for no more than three consecutive years.⁠¹

Floor plan review comes before the application

ARSD 67:42:17:02 requires a center to submit its building, renovation or alteration plan and get DSS approval before applying for a license.⁠² DSS’s guide OLA-116 calls the building review “the first step in the licensing process.” You complete it in the Office of Licensing and Accreditation (OLA) Provider Portal. DSS forwards the plans to the Department of Health and the State Fire Marshal’s office. The guide warns that this review “is a time intensive process,” and that its length depends on how many plans those agencies have from other state programs at the time.⁠⁴

When the plans need a professional, according to OLA-116:⁠⁴

• New construction of 4,000 square feet or more: plans must be designed and stamped by an architect or engineer registered in South Dakota. This applies even to a private home over 4,000 square feet designed to include child care space.
• Existing building needing extensive structural, electrical, plumbing or mechanical renovation: stamped blueprints.
• Under 4,000 square feet, not professionally drawn: you can draw the plans yourself, following the checklist and sample plans in the guide.

What the portal asks for:⁠⁴

• Floor plans of the entire building, drawn to scale, even if you use only part of it. Upload them digitally or mail three hard copies to the OLA Sioux Falls office.
• Every room labeled by use. Play rooms must be numbered and measured, excluding fixed furniture and equipment.
• Door locations and swing direction; kitchen appliances and sinks; electrical outlets; exit signs, smoke detectors, extinguishers, pull stations, horns and strobes; toilets and sinks; the diaper area and its sink; the furnace and water heater; outdoor play dimensions; compass directions; and a symbol key.
• Fire alarm specification or catalog sheets, a plot plan, and an elevation plan if you use a basement or second story. New construction also needs foundation, wall section, window and door, roof, electrical, mechanical and plumbing drawings.
• A program proposal covering the ages you will serve, your hours, whether meals are cooked on site or catered, the other businesses in the building, and whether local agencies have approved the plans.

OLA-116 asks you to send everything at once, because missing details delay the review. After the plans are approved, DSS sends you the next steps: the application, background checks, orientation training and a monitoring visit.⁠⁴

Fire Marshal rules for 21 or more children

ARSD chapter 61:15:05 sets the construction rules for day care centers, meaning facilities serving 21 or more children. Group family day care homes follow chapter 61:15:06 instead.⁠²⁠³⁠⁶ Before you alter, remodel or build, you must tell the State Fire Marshal and DSS. You may not start construction until the plans have been reviewed locally and by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and approved in writing.⁠³

Requirements in 61:15:05:⁠³

• Exits. Any level with an occupant load over 10 needs two remote exits meeting chapter 10 of the 2015 International Building Code. Above 50 occupants, both exits must discharge directly outside and swing in the direction of travel.
• Fire alarm. Every center needs a fire alarm system set off by manual pull stations and by smoke detectors. Detectors go in stairwells, corridors, lounges, recreation areas and sleeping rooms, installed to NFPA 72 (2013). The alarm must be audible inside and outside. This applies to existing buildings too, with a compliance deadline set by the inspector based on the center’s finances and current life safety, never more than 18 months.⁠³
• Sprinklers. Required when a basement used for day care exceeds 1,500 square feet, throughout the whole building when day care is on a second story, and in any center offering 24-hour care. This applies to new construction and changes of use.
• Extinguishers. At least 2A, on every level and near food equipment, each covering no more than 2,000 square feet and no more than 75 feet of travel distance.
• Other items. Class 2 floor covering in exits and corridors unless the building is sprinklered. A one-hour separation around boilers over 400,000 Btu per hour. Closet latches children can open from inside. Bathroom locks staff can open from outside. Self-closing outlet covers in new facilities. No unvented fuel-fired room heaters.

OLA-116 adds review points: no deadbolts on doors; doorway gates at least 32 inches wide for classrooms and 36 inches for corridors, with no corridor gates at all once you serve 50 or more children; exit signs with at least 90 minutes of backup power or glow-in-the-dark; wall coverings meeting E occupancy rules in chapter 8 of the International Fire Code; and, at 21 or more children, a stove vented to the outside. For 20 or fewer children, the guide requires smoke alarms interconnected through the building wiring rather than a pull-station system.⁠⁴

City and county codes apply on top of the state rules. OLA-116 lists the State Plumbing Commission, the State Electrical Commission, city and county zoning, and the local fire and health departments, and says that where city and state rules differ, the stricter one applies. Take your plans to the city before you build.⁠⁴ One statute cuts the other way: a county or city may exempt a day care program from its zoning, building and fire codes if the program is accessory to a church, nonprofit youth organization, hospital, school, commercial building or office building.⁠¹

How DSS calculates your capacity

Capacity is set room by room. Under the rules, a center needs 35 square feet of indoor play space and 50 square feet of outdoor play space per child.⁠² The DSS handbook explains the method. Count only primary play space, leaving out fixed furniture, storage, halls, bathrooms, offices, gyms, cafeterias and kitchens. Divide each room’s usable area by 35, round 0.50 and above up, then add the rooms together. Your room capacities appear in the health and safety review letter.⁠⁵

Outdoor space is measured for the children on the playground at one time, so an outdoor schedule can serve more children than the yard holds at once. Enclosures such as fenced air-conditioning units do not count. If you use a park instead of your own yard (the rules allow this), the park is not measured.⁠⁵⁠² An on-site play area for a center needs a fence at least 4 feet high.⁠²

Plumbing can be the tighter limit. OLA-116 bases capacity on one toilet and one hand sink per 15 children, both in the same bathroom; a classroom sink does not count. Centers also need separate bathrooms for males and females, ventilation in every bathroom, and hot water no hotter than 120°F at children’s faucets.⁠⁴⁠² Above 20 children, cooking areas need a ventilation hood. Center heating and cooling systems must be inspected every year by a certified technician and keep rooms between 65°F and 75°F.⁠²

Within a room, group size follows room capacity. If room capacity does not line up with the ratio, up to three extra children may be added as long as ratios hold. In any space licensed for more than 20 children, staff must know exactly which children each of them supervises.⁠²

Director, owner and staff qualifications

The owner can be an agency, institution, organization, or a person 18 or older. The owner and the director are both responsible for day-to-day operation and for compliance.⁠² The program administrator (the director, or whoever plans and runs the program) must be at least 18 and meet one of these:⁠²

1. Bachelor’s degree

   in a field of education or human development.

2. Two-year degree

   in early childhood education.

3. Child Development Associate (CDA)

   credential, or a comparable credential DSS accepts.

4. Certification in a child learning philosophy

   plus at least one year of child care experience.

5. Child development technician diploma

6. Four years of experience

   in a center or school-age program.

Providers, meaning anyone giving direct care, must be 18 or older. Assistants can be as young as 14, but they may never be left alone with children and count toward ratios only under direct supervision.⁠²

Ratios

ARSD 67:42:17:21 sets the center ratios:⁠²

Children of program employees count toward the ratio. Staff must be in the same room or on the playground with the children and able to see or hear them at all times.⁠² Ratios apply in vehicles too.⁠² If you provide care between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., center staff on duty must be awake, and each child needs a cot or bed.⁠²

Background checks before anyone works

Every provider and every program employee age 14 or older must meet federal background check requirements, and checks repeat at least every five years.⁠² A person is disqualified for: a crime showing harmful behavior toward children; a crime of violence under SDCL 22-1-2; a sex crime; a felony for domestic abuse, assault, battery, kidnapping or arson; any other felony within the past five years; or a substantiated report of child abuse or neglect.⁠² Before issuing a new license, DSS must have the applicant’s criminal record, and the applicant signs the waiver in SDCL 23-5-12.⁠¹

The handbook lays out the process. First, get fingerprinted; digital live scan is the faster option, and ink cards are available from your licensing specialist. Second, if the person lived outside South Dakota as an adult in the past five years, file each other state’s criminal record and abuse registry forms with OLA in Pierre. Third, submit the request in the Provider Portal with the Declaration of Prior Criminal Convictions and the Permission to Screen forms. Results come back through the portal and must be in hand before the person works. A check done for another licensed program within the past five years can be reused if the person has had no more than a 180-day gap between child care jobs.⁠⁵

Training, first aid and CPR

All providers must complete orientation training in 13 topics within 90 days of hire. The topics include infectious disease, safe sleep and shaken baby prevention (if you care for infants), medication, allergies, building safety, emergency planning, hazardous materials, transportation (if you transport children), abuse reporting, pediatric first aid, pediatric CPR and child development. Until a provider finishes orientation, they may not care for children unsupervised.⁠² The handbook points new hires to DSS’s online Orientation to Child Care course and to the five regional Early Childhood Enrichment sites for training.⁠⁵

After that:⁠²⁠⁵

• 10 hours of training a year for each center director and each provider counted in ratios. Orientation hours count toward the year in which they are completed.
• Advanced training every five years in each orientation topic.
• Pediatric first aid every five years, and pediatric CPR certification that includes a hands-on skills test. CPR renewal does not count toward the 10 hours. Providers work under a trained supervisor until both are done.
• College coursework in a relevant area counts as 15 training hours per credit hour.

Plans, records and insurance DSS will look for

At the monitoring visit, expect DSS to check these items, all from chapter 67:42:17:⁠²

• Liability insurance. Required for every program other than family day care, with proof available on request. Any vehicle used to transport children also needs liability insurance.
• Written emergency plans. You need an emergency preparedness and response plan; evacuation, relocation, shelter-in-place and lockdown plans that cover infants and children with disabilities; a parent reunification procedure; and a continuity-of-operations procedure. Drills happen at least twice each calendar year and must be documented.
• Behavior management procedures. These must include shaken baby prevention. The rules list banned discipline, including confinement, isolation out of sight, and withholding or forcing food, naps or outdoor time.
• Records. Staff files must include a signed statement on abuse reporting, kept six months after the employee leaves. Child records must include immunizations, documented before admission through a signed statement or the South Dakota Immunization Information System.
• Health practices. Written allergy care plans, documented medication permission and logs (kept six months), a posted weekly menu, and infant safe sleep practices following Caring for Our Children, 4th edition.
• Posting. Display the DSS licensing phone number and website. Posting your license certificate meets this requirement.⁠⁵

The order of steps

1. Read the rules and the construction chapter

   OLA-116 tells applicants to study ARSD 67:42:17 and either 61:15:05 (21 or more children) or 61:15:06 (20 or fewer) before going further.⁠⁴

2. Check local requirements

   Take your plans to the city and county zoning and building offices, and to the local fire and health departments.⁠⁴

3. Submit floor plans and the program proposal

   in the OLA Provider Portal. Get the written approval DSS issues after the Department of Health and Fire Marshal reviews. Do not start construction before written approval.⁠⁴⁠³

4. Build or renovate

   to the approved plans. Any later change to walls, exits, fire protection or room use must be submitted before the work is done.⁠⁴⁠⁵

5. File the license application

   in the portal, with background checks for the applicant and staff.⁠⁴⁠⁵

6. Finish orientation training

   for the staff you will open with.⁠⁴

7. Pass the pre-licensure inspection

   DSS reviews your materials and makes a monitoring visit before issuing the license.⁠²⁠⁵

8. Receive a written decision within 60 days

   of a complete application. The 60-day clock does not start until every document is in. If DSS denies you, it must give reasons, and you can reapply once each one is corrected.⁠²⁠⁵

Fees and timelines

Neither SDCL chapter 26-6 nor ARSD 67:42:17 sets a fee for a day care center or group family day care home license, as published on 2026-10-12.⁠¹⁠² No official DSS page or rule located says what, if anything, DSS or the Department of Public Safety charges for plan review or the license application, so ask your licensing specialist before you submit plans. For background checks, DSS says providers do not need to submit payment when a fee is indicated, because DSS pays any fees required.⁠⁸

The only deadline the state sets is the 60-day decision after a complete application. For the plan review stage, OLA-116 gives no timeframe and warns that review time depends on how many plans the Department of Health and Fire Marshal have in their queue.⁠²⁠⁴

After you open: inspections, reporting and revocation

The rules require at least one unannounced inspection a year.⁠² The handbook says licensed programs actually get two annual inspections: OLA does the program inspection, and DPS does the facility safety inspection. Extra visits follow up on corrections, complaints and self-reported incidents. You can dispute a citation within five working days of receiving the compliance plan. After that, plans of correction are published for public viewing.⁠⁵ The Department of Health may also visit to inspect sanitation.⁠¹

You must report to DSS within 24 hours: an address change, a major change in operation or ownership, damage to the facility, a child protection or police investigation of staff, any injury to a child that needs medical or dental treatment, and a death related to a serious injury on the premises.⁠² Parents must be told within 24 hours of a license change, suspension or revocation, a move, a closure or an ownership change, and they may observe their children at any time.⁠²

DSS can revoke a license on 30 days’ written notice, or immediately if children are at risk. A revoked provider cannot reapply for one year.⁠² The statute requires notice by registered mail and a hearing under SDCL chapter 1-26 if you protest. It also allows temporary suspension when children are in imminent danger or the program is substantially out of compliance.⁠¹ You can request a fair hearing on any licensing action under ARSD chapter 67:17:02.⁠²

Rules in force

The child care licensing chapter in effect on 2026-10-12, ARSD 67:42:17, was adopted at 49 SDR 124, effective July 3, 2023. It applies to centers, group family homes, school-age programs and registered family day care homes alike.⁠² DSS’s companion guide, which explains how inspectors read each rule, carries an effective date of August 2026. The floor plan guide OLA-116 is dated February 2024.⁠⁵⁠⁴ The Fire Marshal’s day care construction chapter adopts the 2015 International Building Code and International Fire Code and the 2013 edition of NFPA 72.⁠³

Sources

1. 1
   South Dakota Legislature, SDCL chapter 26-6, Children's Homes and Welfare Agencies Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   South Dakota Legislature, Administrative Rules, ARSD chapter 67:42:17, Child Care Licensing (effective July 3, 2023) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   South Dakota Legislature, Administrative Rules, ARSD chapter 61:15:05, Day Care Center Construction Requirements Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   South Dakota Department of Social Services, Office of Licensing and Accreditation, OLA-116, Floor Plan Review Process and Program Proposal (effective February 2024) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   South Dakota Department of Social Services, Guide to Child Care Licensing Rules and Resources for Licensed Programs (effective August 2026) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   South Dakota Department of Social Services, Licensed Child Care Program Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   South Dakota Department of Social Services, Child Care Licensing and Registration Information Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   South Dakota Department of Social Services, Background Screening Information for Child Care Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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