Section 5104.02 | License required.
(A) The director of job and family services is responsible for the licensing of child day-care centers and type A family day-care homes. Each entity operating a head start program shall meet the criteria for, and be licensed as, a child day-care center. The director is responsible for the enforcement of this chapter and of rules promulgated pursuant to this chapter.
No person, firm, organization, institution, or agency shall operate, establish, manage, conduct, or maintain a child day-care center or type A family day-care home without a license issued under section 5104.03 of the Revised Code. The current license shall be posted in a conspicuous place in the center or type A home that is accessible to parents, custodians, or guardians and employees of the center or type A home at all times when the center or type A home is in operation.
(B) A person, firm, institution, organization, or agency operating any of the following programs is exempt from the requirements of this chapter:
(1) A program of child care that operates for two or less consecutive weeks;
(2) Child care in places of worship during religious activities during which children are cared for while at least one parent, guardian, or custodian of each child is participating in such activities and is readily available;
(3) Religious activities which do not provide child care;
(4) Supervised training, instruction, or activities of children in specific areas, including, but not limited to: art; drama; dance; music; gymnastics, swimming, or another athletic skill or sport; computers; or an educational subject conducted on an organized or periodic basis no more than one day a week and for no more than six hours duration;
(5) Programs in which the director determines that at least one parent, custodian, or guardian of each child is on the premises of the facility offering child care and is readily accessible at all times, except that child care provided on the premises at which a parent, custodian, or guardian is employed more than two and one-half hours a day shall be licensed in accordance with division (A) of this section;
(6)(a) Programs that provide child care funded and regulated or operated and regulated by state departments other than the department of job and family services or the state board of education when the director of job and family services has determined that the rules governing the program are equivalent to or exceed the rules promulgated pursuant to this chapter.
Notwithstanding any exemption from regulation under this chapter, each state department shall submit to the director of job and family services a copy of the rules that govern programs that provide child care and are regulated or operated and regulated by the department. Annually, each state department shall submit to the director a report for each such program it regulates or operates and regulates that includes the following information:
(i) The site location of the program;
(ii) The maximum number of infants, toddlers, preschool-age children, or school-age children served by the program at one time;
(iii) The number of adults providing child care for the number of infants, toddlers, preschool-age children, or school-age children;
(iv) Any changes in the rules made subsequent to the time when the rules were initially submitted to the director.
The director shall maintain a record of the child care information submitted by other state departments and shall provide this information upon request to the general assembly or the public.
(b) Child care programs conducted by boards of education or by chartered nonpublic schools that are conducted in school buildings and that provide child care to school-age children only shall be exempt from meeting or exceeding rules promulgated pursuant to this chapter.
(7) Any preschool program or school child program, except a head start program, that is subject to licensure by the department of education under sections 3301.52 to 3301.59 of the Revised Code.
(8) Any program providing child care that meets all of the following requirements and, on October 20, 1987, was being operated by a nonpublic school that holds a charter issued by the state board of education for kindergarten only:
(a) The nonpublic school has given the notice to the state board and the director of job and family services required by Section 4 of Substitute House Bill No. 253 of the 117th general assembly;
(b) The nonpublic school continues to be chartered by the state board for kindergarten, or receives and continues to hold a charter from the state board for kindergarten through grade five;
(c) The program is conducted in a school building;
(d) The program is operated in accordance with rules promulgated by the state board under sections 3301.52 to 3301.57 of the Revised Code.
(9) A youth development program operated outside of school hours by a community-based center to which all of the following apply:
(a) The children enrolled in the program are under nineteen years of age and enrolled in or eligible to be enrolled in a grade of kindergarten or above.
(b) The program provides informal child care, which is child care that does not require parental signature, permission, or notice for the child receiving the care to enter or leave the program ;
(c) The program provides any of the following supervised activities: educational, recreational, culturally enriching, social, and personal development activities.
(d) The program is eligible for participation in the child and adult care food program as an outside-school-hours care center pursuant to standards established under section 3313.813 of the Revised Code.
(e) The community-based center operating the program is exempt from federal income taxation pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 501(a) and (c)(3).
(10) A preschool program operated by a nonchartered, nontax-supported school if the preschool program meets all of the following conditions:
(a) The program complies with state and local health, fire, and safety laws.
(b) The program annually certifies in a report to the parents of its pupils that the school is in compliance with division (B)(10)(a) of this section and files a copy of the report with the department of job and family services on or before the thirtieth day of September of each year.
(c) The program complies with all applicable reporting requirements in the same manner as required by the state board of education for nonchartered, nonpublic primary and secondary schools.
(d) The program is associated with a nonchartered, nontax-supported primary or secondary school.
Available Versions of this Section
- September 29, 2013 – House Bill 59 - 130th General Assembly [ View September 29, 2013 Version ]
- October 17, 2019 – Amended by House Bill 166 - 133rd General Assembly [ View October 17, 2019 Version ]
- October 3, 2023 – Amended by House Bill 33 - 135th General Assembly [ View October 3, 2023 Version ]
- January 1, 2025 – Amended by House Bill 101 - 135th General Assembly [ View January 1, 2025 Version ]