237A.30 Voluntary child care quality rating system.

1. The department shall work with the early childhood Iowa office in the department of management established in section 256I.5 and the state child care advisory committee in designing and implementing a voluntary quality rating system for each provider type of child care facility.

2. The criteria utilized for the rating system may include but are not limited to any of the following: facility type; provider staff experience, education, training, and credentials; facility director education and training; an environmental rating score or other direct assessment environmental methodology; national accreditation; facility history of compliance with law and rules; child-to-staff ratio; curriculum, including the extent to which the curriculum focuses on the stages of child development and on child outcomes; business practices; staff retention rates; evaluation of staff members and program practices; staff compensation and benefit practices; provider and staff membership in professional early childhood organizations; and parental involvement with the facility.

3. A facility’s quality rating may be included on the internet site and in the consumer information provided by the department pursuant to section 237A.25 and shall be identified in the child care provider referrals made by child care resource and referral service grantees under section 237A.26.

99 Acts, ch 192, §33; 99 Acts, ch 203, §49; 2002 Acts, ch 1142, §27, 28, 31; 2005 Acts, ch 148, §20; 2006 Acts, ch 1010, §76; 2010 Acts, ch 1031, §302, 358, 361; 2013 Acts, ch 90, §257; 2015 Acts, ch 30, §85, 205, 208