You are owed a number, and it is a specific one. Texas does not ask a daycare to have “enough” staff; it prints a table saying exactly how many children one adult may be responsible for at each age, and a second table capping how many may be in the room at all.
Both are below, from the rule. They are worth reading slowly, because the numbers at the older end surprise most parents — and because a center can meet every one of them and still have failed the standard that actually protects your child.
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The Table
One adult to twenty-six children is lawful in Texas
The left-hand number is how many children one caregiver may be responsible for. The right-hand number is the most that may be in the group at all, however many adults are with them.
| Age of the group | Children per caregiver | Max group | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – 11 months | 4 | 10 | |
| 12 – 17 months | 5 | 13 | |
| 18 – 23 months | 9 | 18 | |
| 2 years | 11 | 22 | |
| 3 years | 15 | 30 | |
| 4 years | 18 | 35 | |
| 5 years | 22 | 35 | |
| 6 – 8 years | 26 | 35 | |
| 9 – 13 years | 26 | 35 | |
The second number is the ceiling. Two caregivers in a room of three-year-olds may not supervise thirty children between them, because the maximum group size is thirty — and doubling the caregivers does not double the room (§746.1607).
The Other Standard
Meeting the ratio is not the same as supervising
This is the answer to “but we were within ratio”, and it is not an argument — it is a separate rule, and the heaviest-weighted one in the chapter.
Supervision is defined, and it is not proximity
The rule requires a caregiver to know which children they are responsible for and how many, to provide physical proximity and auditory or visual awareness of each child’s ongoing activity, and to be able to intervene when necessary.
How close depends on the child
The same rule requires the caregiver to decide how closely to supervise by reference to the child’s age, stage of development, individual differences and abilities, the layout of the building and yard, and the hazards and risks around them.
Four things a caregiver may not be doing
Administrative and clerical work, meal preparation where more than twelve children are in care, janitorial duties, and personal use of electronic devices.
Being in ratio is a floor, not a defence
The ratio answers one question: how thinly the center was allowed to spread its staff. It does not answer whether this child, at this moment, was being watched by somebody who could reach them.
The Exceptions
When the ratio may lawfully be relaxed
Four situations, each with conditions attached. The conditions are usually where the breach is, and they are the part a center is least likely to mention at pick-up.
Naptime — half the caregivers
For children eighteen months and older the ratio may be cut by 50% during nap, but only on conditions: the groups have to be combined in one central sleeping location, caregivers must be physically in the room, and additional employees must be in the building — one for every two caregivers supervising, and at least one even where only one caregiver is needed.
Mixing groups — and for how long
Groups may be mixed for joint activities beyond the maximum group size for a maximum of thirty minutes for children eighteen months through four, ninety minutes for children five and over, and for the length of the activity at mealtimes, on field trips, during outdoor play and at naptime.
Infants with older children
Where thirteen or more children are in care, infants may be grouped with older children only if the oldest in the group is no more than eighteen months older than the youngest. An eight-month-old may be with a twenty-six-month-old and no further.
Off the premises — the ratio tightens
It does not relax at all on a field trip or in the water; it becomes several times stricter, and it is keyed to the youngest child in the group rather than to the group’s specified age.
Consequences
What too few adults actually produces
Six injuries, and what each of them has to do with counting. None of these needs anybody to have been cruel.
- 01
Wandering
The injury that most often follows a ratio breach, because a child who leaves is a child nobody was counting. Gates, doors, and the walk between the room and the yard.
- 02
Falls from equipment
The commonest playground claim, and the one where “where was the caregiver standing” is decided by the supervision standard rather than by the ratio.
- 03
Choking and allergic reaction
Both are measured in minutes. Mealtimes are one of the periods where the group size may lawfully be exceeded, which is the reason they need asking about.
- 04
Injury by another child
Biting, pushing, hitting. Foreseeable, ordinary, and preventable by the one thing understaffing removes — an adult close enough to reach.
- 05
Drowning
The rule requires two caregivers for four or more children swimming and one adult per child under two, because there is no recovering from getting this one wrong.
- 06
Left in a vehicle
Named in the standards as an example of the non-routine incident a center must report. It is a counting failure, and counting is the first duty in the supervision rule.
Questions
Ratio and supervision FAQs
What parents ask once they have read the table and started counting backwards.
What are the legal child-to-caregiver ratios in Texas?
They are set out in the first table above, from 26 TAC §746.1601: one caregiver to four children aged up to eleven months, five to seventeen months, nine to twenty-three months, eleven two-year-olds, fifteen three-year-olds, eighteen four-year-olds, twenty-two five-year-olds and twenty-six children of six and over.
The daycare says it was within ratio. Does that end it?
No. The ratio is the maximum number of children one adult may be responsible for. It says nothing about whether that adult was actually watching, and Texas has a separate, High-weighted supervision standard that does.
How would anyone prove the ratio was broken?
From the center’s own records: the sign-in and attendance sheets for that room, the staff schedule and time records for that day, and the classroom assignment. Together they answer how many children and how many adults.
My child was hurt at naptime and there was only one adult. Is that allowed?
It can be. The ratio may be halved during nap for children eighteen months and older — but only if the groups are combined in one central sleeping location, the caregiver is physically in the room, and additional employees are in the building.
Are the rules different on a field trip or at the pool?
Yes, and much stricter. Off the premises among the public, and in the water, it is one adult per child under two, one per two two-year-olds, one per six three-year-olds, one per eight four-year-olds, one per ten five-year-olds and one per twelve children of six and over.
