Two-year-olds at a preschool in St. Petersburg, Florida
Credit: Scott Keeler/Tampa Bay Times/ZUMA

The Obama administration released a new list of regulations today meant to improve the quality of child care in thousands of centers—from small mom-and-pop shops to large nonprofit and for-profit schools—serving infants and toddlers. Currently, every state has its own safety, health, and learning standards for child care centers, whose quality varies widely. The new federal standards aim to raise the bar for every center that works with any of the 1.4 million low-income children currently receiving a federal subsidy to cover their child care fees.

The new rules require, among other things:

• More thorough background checks for all staff working in child care centers;
• Unannounced inspection visits of child care centers that will be posted publicly for parents;
• Regular mandatory training for child care providers, including safe sleeping practices, preventing infectious diseases and administer CPR, and spotting and reporting child abuse;
• More professional development of educators.

“In some states, it is easier to become a […]