New Hampshire wrote its infant and toddler staffing ratios into state law in 2024 —
along with a waiver the department cannot refuse without documented cause — and scheduled the whole
arrangement to expire on December 31, 2026. It no longer expires. Chapter 98, signed May 28 and in
force since July 27, makes the ratios and the waiver permanent, and orders the state to remind every
licensed provider annually that the waiver exists.
The short version
If you run a licensed child care program in New Hampshire — or you are opening one —
the staffing numbers you must meet for children under three are set by the legislature, not the
Department of Health and Human Services. That arrangement began in 2024 and was temporary by design:
the statute carried its own repeal date of December 31, 2026, after which staffing standards would
have returned to department rulemaking.
House Bill 1771 removed that repeal date. Governor Ayotte signed it on May 28, 2026, as Chapter 98;
it took effect July 27, 2026. Three things are now permanent that were about to disappear:
- The statutory group sizes and staffing levels for children from 6 weeks to
35 months (the table below); - The waiver — any licensed provider may apply, there is no fee, no limit on
the number of waivers statewide, and the department “shall not deny a waiver unless there is a
documented cause”; - Annual accountability — the department must now report waiver counts to
legislative leadership every year, not just once.
And one thing is new: the department must send licensed providers an annual notice that the waiver
option exists — a provision that only makes sense if lawmakers concluded providers did not know.
The staffing numbers now permanently in statute
RSA 170-E:11, I(c) sets both a maximum group size and tiered minimum staffing for each age band:
| Age | Max group size | Minimum staffing |
|---|---|---|
| 6 weeks–12 months | 13 | 1 associate teacher up to 4 children; 2 staff for 5–9; 1 lead teacher + 2 assistants for 9–13 |
| 13–24 months | 16 | 1 associate teacher up to 5 children; 2 staff for 6–11; 1 lead teacher + 2 assistants for 11–16 |
| 25–35 months | 19 | 1 associate teacher up to 6 children; 2 staff for 7–13; 1 lead teacher + 2 assistants for 13–19 |
For children three and older, staffing standards remain where they have always been — in the
department’s licensing rules, not the statute.
How the ratios got into statute: the 2024 law
Until 2024, New Hampshire’s staffing ratios lived entirely in DHHS licensing rules. House Bill 1407
— Chapter 197 of 2024, titled simply “relative to child care staffing ratios” —
moved the infant and toddler numbers into RSA 170-E:11 itself and attached the waiver system.
Section 197:3 of that law scheduled the whole subparagraph to be repealed on December 31, 2026,
which made the statutory ratios a two-year experiment with an expiration date.
The New Hampshire statutes website still displays both versions side by side: the current
subparagraph with the group sizes and waiver, and the post-repeal version that would have reduced the
provision to a single line — “The number of individuals or staff required to insure
adequate supervision and care of the children received” — handing the numbers back to
department rulemaking. Chapter 98 means the second version never takes over.
The waiver: approval is the default
The waiver provision is the unusual part of New Hampshire’s design, and it is worth reading in the
statute’s own words:
“Any licensed child care provider may apply for a one year waiver under this
paragraph. The department shall not deny a waiver unless there is a documented cause for such denial.
The definition of documented cause shall be established in rules adopted by the department. There
shall be no limit on the number of waivers, and there shall be no fee for the application for or
renewal of a waiver. Waivers may be renewed annually.”
Most licensing waivers put the burden on the provider to justify relief. New Hampshire inverts
that: the default is approval, and it is the denial that requires documentation. There is no
application fee, no statewide cap, and a granted waiver can be renewed every year.
Chapter 98 adds a notice obligation on top:
“The department shall provide an annual notice to licensed child care providers of
the option to request a waiver of the child care staffing requirements established under this
subparagraph.”
What the waiver has actually been used for — the numbers exist, but not publicly
The 2024 law required DHHS to report the number of waivers applied for, granted, and denied to the
speaker of the house and the senate president by November 1, 2025, with what was originally a final
report due November 1, 2026. Chapter 98 struck the word “final” and made the report
annual. We could not locate a published copy of the interim report; the counts go to legislative
leadership rather than into a public docket. Anyone weighing what the waiver means in practice
— including how “documented cause” is being applied — currently has to
request those numbers from the department.
What this means if you are opening a daycare in New Hampshire
The numbers you staff to are stable now. Anyone budgeting a New Hampshire infant
room in 2025 had to plan around the possibility that the statutory scheme — and the waiver
— would vanish on December 31, 2026, putting staffing standards back into department
rulemaking with an unknown outcome. That uncertainty is gone: the group sizes in the table above are
the law until the legislature changes them.
The waiver is part of your planning math, whether or not you use it. A provider
who cannot hire a third staffer for an infant room has a statutory relief valve with no fee, a
presumption of approval, and annual renewal. Whether relying on it is good practice for your program
is a separate question from whether it is available — but it is available, permanently, and
starting this year the department is required to tell you so.
Staffing is one requirement among many. Licensing in New Hampshire still covers
premises, background checks, teacher qualifications (the statute sets the associate-teacher minimum
at 1,000 supervised hours plus 30 hours of training in child growth and development), and the rest of
the department’s rules. Our New
Hampshire daycare guide walks through the full licensing path, and the
state-by-state daycare index covers the other
50 jurisdictions. New Hampshire’s child care rules have been moving in one direction across several
sessions — the state also made home daycares a by-right residential use in 2026, covered in our
report on home daycare
zoning laws.
Sources
- HB1771 (2026), version adopted by both bodies, enrolled amendment 2026-1795EBA —
text at the NH General Court - HB1771 bill status and docket — Chapter 98, signed by Governor Ayotte May 28, 2026, effective July 27, 2026 —
NH General Court bill status - RSA 170-E:11 (current text, showing both the current and formerly scheduled versions of paragraph I(c)) —
NH statutes online - HB1407 (2024), “relative to child care staffing ratios,” Chapter 197 of 2024 —
NH General Court bill status - Bill discovery via LegiScan. LegiScan data is licensed
CC BY 4.0; statutory and bill text above
was read from the state’s own published text, not from LegiScan.