Texas Childcare Licensing Requirements Guide

The licensing agency: HHSC Child Care Licensing

Texas childcare centers are licensed by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), Child Care Licensing division. The minimum standards that govern licensed child care centers are in Texas Administrative Code, Title 26, Chapter 746 — referred to in the industry simply as “Chapter 746.”

HHSC has regional offices throughout the state. Your regional office handles your initial application, pre-licensing inspection, annual renewal, and any complaint investigations. Texas is among the largest childcare markets in the country, and HHSC Child Care Licensing is structured to handle that scale with a mix of in-person inspections and online systems.

Staff-to-child ratio requirements

Texas ratios under Chapter 746 by age group:

• Infants (0–11 months): 1 staff to 4 children
• 1-year-olds (12–23 months): 1 staff to 7 children
• 2-year-olds: 1 staff to 11 children
• 3-year-olds: 1 staff to 15 children
• 4-year-olds: 1 staff to 18 children
• School-age children: 1 staff to 26 children

At least one staff member per group must be at least 18 years old. Texas also imposes maximum group size limits: 8 for infants, 14 for 1-year-olds, 22 for 2-year-olds, 30 for 3-year-olds, 36 for 4-year-olds, and 26 for school-age. Group size caps and ratios must both be met simultaneously.

These ratios represent minimums. Centers aiming for Texas Rising Star certification at higher levels often operate at lower ratios, since staff qualifications and ratios are evaluation criteria in TRS assessments.

Staff qualifications

Texas has a tiered qualification framework tied to role:

Child care employee (working with children in ratio): Must be at least 18 years old and have a high school diploma or GED, or be at least 16 with the Director’s approval for specific supervised roles. New employees must complete HHSC-required annual training hours. Texas requires 24 clock hours of annual training for full-time caregiving staff in their first year and ongoing annual training thereafter.

Director: Must be at least 18 years old, have a high school diploma or GED, and complete an approved Director’s Training before beginning work. The Director’s Training covers minimum standards, administration, and child development fundamentals. HHSC provides approved training options. Directors also have ongoing annual training requirements.

Texas does not require college-level ECE coursework for base-level teacher certification, but Texas Rising Star certification at higher star levels does require staff to have documented education and training credentials beyond the minimum standards.

Background check requirements

Before working with or around children, all employees and regular volunteers must pass:

• DPS criminal history check: A Texas Department of Public Safety criminal history search using name and date of birth, submitted through the HHSC online system.
• FBI fingerprint check: Required for directors and positions that involve ongoing direct supervision of children. Submitted electronically.
• HHSC Employee Misconduct Registry (EMR): A statewide registry of individuals found to have abused, neglected, or exploited individuals in facilities regulated by HHSC. Centers must check this registry before hire and are prohibited from employing anyone listed.
• Nurse Aide Registry: Check required to identify individuals found to have committed abuse or neglect in nursing facilities.

Texas does not have a mandatory waiting period for criminal history results before employment begins — centers may use a supervised provisional start while checks are pending — but employing someone who later returns a disqualifying result creates a compliance finding.

Facility requirements

Texas requires a minimum of 30 square feet of indoor usable activity space per child. Outdoor play space must be at least 80 square feet per child for children who use it, but centers may use a ratio of outdoor space to indoor enrollment capacity.

Toilet and sink requirements: one toilet and one sink for every 15 children ages 2 and older. Diaper changing areas must be located near a sink and sanitized between uses. Infant rooms require safe sleep equipment (cribs) for each infant enrolled.

Texas requires centers to have written emergency plans covering evacuation, shelter-in-place, and reunification with families. Drill documentation must be retained and available for inspection.

Health and safety documentation

Under Chapter 746, centers must maintain and make available to HHSC inspectors:

• Enrollment records with emergency contacts, authorized pickup designations, and any medical or dietary conditions for each child
• Immunization records verified against Texas DSHS school immunization requirements, or a valid exemption
• Medication authorization for any medication administered at the center, including over-the-counter medications
• Incident/accident reports completed for any injury requiring first aid or medical attention, retained in the child’s file
• Daily attendance records showing arrival and departure times for each child
• Staff training records showing completion of required annual hours by each employee

All records must be retained for at least two years. Records for children who were injured while enrolled must be retained longer.

The initial licensing process

Texas HHSC uses an online portal for the childcare licensing application process. The steps are:

1. Pre-application orientation: Complete an online orientation provided by HHSC. This covers the minimum standards and the application process.
2. Application submission: Submit the online application through the HHSC portal with supporting documents including facility floor plan, lease or ownership documents, and Director’s Training completion certificate.
3. Background check processing: All staff listed on the application must complete background checks before the pre-licensing inspection.
4. Pre-licensing inspection: An HHSC inspector visits the facility to verify compliance with physical plant requirements. Deficiencies must be corrected before the license is issued.
5. License issuance: HHSC issues the license with a specified licensed capacity. Licenses are valid for one year and must be renewed annually.

The most common delays involve incomplete background check processing and facility modifications. Having all staff documentation and background check submissions ready before the inspection significantly speeds the process.

License renewal and ongoing compliance

Texas childcare center licenses are renewed annually. HHSC sends renewal notices, but the center is responsible for completing renewal and paying the applicable fee on time. Operating with an expired license is a violation.

HHSC conducts announced annual inspections and unannounced inspections triggered by complaints or random compliance checks. Inspectors assess ratios, staff qualifications, environment, documentation, and health/safety practices. Deficiencies are documented and assigned a risk level. High-priority deficiencies must be corrected immediately; other deficiencies have correction timelines established by the inspector.

Texas Rising Star and subsidy

Texas Rising Star (TRS) is the state’s voluntary quality rating and improvement system, administered by Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) through local Workforce Development Boards. TRS certification levels — Provisional, 2-Star, 3-Star, and 4-Star — are based on assessments of staff qualifications, caregiver-child interaction quality, curriculum, and the physical environment.

Centers that serve children receiving Workforce Solutions child care subsidies (funded through the federal Child Care and Development Fund) and want access to enhanced reimbursement rates must hold a TRS certification. Unrated centers can still accept subsidized children but receive the base reimbursement rate. For most centers serving low- to moderate-income families, TRS certification is a practical financial requirement, not just a quality distinction.

Texas uses the TX3C system for electronic attendance documentation required for Workforce Solutions subsidy billing. Centers must maintain accurate swipe-in/swipe-out records for each subsidized child as a condition of subsidy participation.