As Indiana considers easing requirements for childcare workers, some early childhood professionals say the real test of any rule changes should be whether children leave early learning programs ready for kindergarten.
Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration has proposed changes, including lowering education requirements for childcare center directors and caretakers.
Lead caregivers would no longer need a child development associate credential to meet state guidelines, needing only a high school diploma or equivalent. Lower-level childcare providers would no longer need a high school diploma but would need to be at least 18 years old.
Childcare center directors would no longer need a bachelor's degree. Instead, they'd need either a child development associate credential plus two years of experience, or any bachelor's degree paired with a child development associate credential or two years of experience in early childhood education.
Directors with at least an associate degree or higher in early childhood or elementary education with a kindergarten endorsement would also be allowed.
In a press release, Gov. Mike Braun announced his support for childcare reforms to increase affordability.
President and CEO of Early Learning Indiana Erin Kissling said Indiana’s push to relax education standards for childcare workers should be judged by what it does to children’s development, not just a “short-term win” of getting more people into the childcare space.
“Decreasing those competencies really has me concerned that, you know, children will arrive at the door of kindergarten ready to learn, or if we'll be doing a lot of catch up in those early grades because we don't have a solid foundation,” she said.
Required hours on-site for directors are also reduced from 30 to 20 hours per week under the proposed changes. Indiana FSSA also seeks to strike the term “early childhood professional” when referencing a qualified caregiver providing care and education to children.
Kissling said over 100,000 Indiana children are in regulated care every day. She said nearly 80,000 children are in licensed childcare centers.
“I'm more concerned that we each, as early educators, you know, have what we need to offer in the classroom, and that as we're bringing new people into classrooms, they also have those same basic competencies,” she said.
Director of Kiddie Carousel Childcare Center in Terre Haute and former elementary school teacher Kylie Gilman said while she will not lower her hiring standards, the state’s proposal to lower qualifications could bear consequences for early childhood education.
“I feel like I have a lot of experience, not only on the curriculum side, but on the side dealing with parents and helping parents navigate through special needs services and things like that, that I don't feel like somebody with four months of training would have,” Gilman said.
Beyond specific licensing requirements, Gilman said her deeper concern is what the changes signal about the value of the profession.
“These changes are just devaluing childcare providers and education people as a whole,” she said. “I mean, it goes all the way across the board. It's just another way to deface the job of a teacher. It's just very sad.”
