If you're an experienced child-care provider interested in directing a day care in Texas, you'll need to meet all the state's day-care director requirements. The state offers multiple pathways that require a combination of experience and training, and your options will depend on how many children your day care will supervise.

For example, you could complete a child-care director certification or a whole degree program. Generally, you'll need to have worked both in child care and management roles to qualify for the licensing process.

Day-Care Director Requirements in Texas

Texas has a few requirements that any day-care director must meet to get licensed. For example, you need to be 21 or older and show proof of graduating from high school or earning an equivalency diploma. Any day-care director license in Texas will require having a year or more of experience working in a licensed child-care home, center or facility. This experience needs to have happened in the last decade and must involve supervising other child-care staff in some capacity.

Day Cares With Under 13 Children

Currently, Texas offers these combinations of training and experience to direct day-care facilities with no more than 12 children:

  • Three years of experience with 102 hours of child-care director training (72 hours in child development and 30 hours in management)

  • Two years of experience with either a state-approved child-care director credential or a college certificate that includes three management course hours and 15 child-development course hours

  • One year of experience, either the Child Development Associate or Certified Child-Care Professional credential and a three-hour management course from a college

  • One year of experience and either an associate or bachelor's degree related to child development (including a three-hour management course and either six or 12 hours of child-development courses)

Day Cares With More Children

To direct day-care centers with more than 12 children, you'll typically need to show more experience and complete more management-specific training. The options from most to least experience include:

  • Three years of experience with 18 college credits split equally between management and child development

  • Two years of experience with a state-approved child-care director credential

  • Two years of experience, either the Child Development Associate or Certified Child-Care Professional credential plus six course hours of college-level management coursework

  • Two years of experience plus a college certificate in child-care administration that includes three management course hours and 15 child-development course hours

  • Two years of experience with 60 college credits that include six hours of management courses and nine hours of child-development courses

  • Two years of experience and an associate degree related to child development (six hours needed in management and six hours needed in child development)

  • One year of experience and a bachelor's degree that features six hours of management courses and 12 hours of child-development courses

Child-Care Director License Application

After you've completed the training that aligns with your experience level and size of day care, you can begin Texas's licensing process. You can find the license application, Form 3015, on the Texas Health and Human Services website. You'll first enter some general personal and contact information before moving on to provide detailed information about your experience, education, references, military status and criminal history.

Along with filling out the application, you'll need to pay a $100 application fee and $2 background-check fee, attach three handwritten professional reference forms and have an official transcript sent from the educational institution where you met your training requirements. You'll also need to pass a child-care administrator licensing examination that covers topics such as child psychology, ethics and law, management and human-resource development.

Once you have met all these requirements and have an active license, you'll need to renew it every two years. This involves taking 15 hours of relevant training during each renewal period, filling out a renewal form and paying a $50 renewal fee. If you fail to renew within one year after the child-care administrator license expires, you'll have to start the application process again.