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Volume 45 - Issue 20- May 14, 2026

State of Kansas

Department of Health and Environment

Notice of Hearing on Proposed Administrative Regulations

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), Division of Environment, Bureau of Family Health, will conduct a public hearing at 10:00 a.m. Monday, July 13, 2026, in the Azure Conference Room, 4th Floor, Curtis State Office Building, 1000 SW Jackson, Topeka, Kansas, to consider the adoption of the proposed permanent Child Care Licensing regulations: K.A.R. 28-4-92, 28-4-113, 28-4-114, 28-4-114a, 28-4-122, 28-4-126, 28-4-128, 28-4-129, 28-4-130, 28-4-132, 28-4-420, 28-4-422, 28-4-423, 28-4-426, 28-4-429, 28-4-430, 28-4-437, 28-4-439, 28-4-440, 28-4-576, 28-4-577, 28-4-578, 28-4-579, 28-4-580, 28-4-581, 28-4-582, 28-4-583, 28-4-584, 28-4-585, 28-4-586, 28-4-587, 28-4-588, 28-4-589, 28-4-590, 28-4-591, 28-4-592, 28-4-593, 28-4-594, 28-4-595, 28-4-596, 28-4-700, 28-4-701, 28-4-702, 28-4-703, 28-4-704, and 28-4-705.

This 60-day notice of the public hearing shall constitute a public comment period for the purpose of receiving written public comments on the proposed regulations. All interested parties may submit written comments prior to the hearing to Nick Schneider, Regulation Coordinator, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Office of Legal Services, Curtis State Office Building, 1000 SW Jackson, Suite 560, Topeka, KS 66612 or by email to nick.schneider@ks.gov. All interested parties will be given a reasonable opportunity to present their views orally on the proposed regulations during the hearing as well as an opportunity to submit written comments. It is requested that everyone giving oral comments also provide a written copy of the comments for the record. To give each individual an opportunity to present their views, it may be necessary for the hearing officer to request that each presenter limit an oral presentation to an appropriate time frame. Any individual with a disability may request accommodation(s) to participate in the public hearing at least 10 business days in advance of the hearing to the contact information provided above.

Questions pertaining to the proposed regulations and/or requests for complete copies of the proposed regulations and corresponding economic impact statement should be directed to Nick Schneider, Regulation Coordinator, at the contact information above.

A summary of the proposed regulations and estimated economic impact follows:

Summary of Regulations

The proposed amended and revoked regulations are the entirety of the regulations governing School-Age Programs, hereafter referred to as Out of School Time programs (K.A.R. 28-4-576 through 28-4-596), Drop-In Programs (K.A.R. 28-4-700 through 28-4-705) and some regulations governing Family Child Care Homes, Child Care Centers, and Preschools (K.A.R. 28-4-92, 28-4-113, 28-4-114, 28-4-114a, 28-4-122, 28-4-126, 28-4-128, 28-4-129, 28-4-130, 28-4-132, 28-4-420, 28-4-422, 28-4-423, 28-4-426, 28-4-429, 28-4-430, 28-4-437, 28-4-439, and 28-4-440). While some of these regulation amendments are the result of HB 2045, many of these amendments are the result of reviewing and re-imagining the Out of School Time programs with our regulated community’s input, which are proposed to:

  • Comply with current federal Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) requirements. The Department for Children and Families is the lead agency for the administration of the CCDF federal-state partnership. KDHE is the agency responsible for regulating the provision of child care and carrying out the CCDF State Plan (2022-2024) requirements for health and safety. The Federal Office of Child Care conducted a monitoring visit in April 2021 and issued a letter of decision in December 2021 documenting the fact that Kansas is not in full compliance with the health and safety requirements found in the 2016 final rules (45 CFR Part 98).
  • Align regulations with Kansas early childhood systems work, including efforts to increase access and capacity to serve, increase licensee flexibility in enrollment practices, and reduce burden, while maintaining foundational protections for young children in regulated child care settings.
  • Modernize outdated language, increase consistency, standardize terms, and incorporate current research, foundational standards, and practices.

Additionally, after the last set of Article 4 regulations, including the revocation of K.A.R. 28-4-442, was promulgated on August 2, 2024, KDHE received feedback from licensing specialists and providers on a few minor changes that needed to be made. Initially, KDHE created policy exceptions to remove those burdens and used this opportunity to permanently fix those minor issues, which primarily consist of a few word changes or removals.

Economic Impact

The proposed amended and revoked regulations are expected to result in a net reduction in compliance costs for child care providers in Kansas, driven primarily by reduced training requirements and the elimination of licensing fees. Even after accounting for new training costs, providers are expected to experience substantial net savings overall.

Child care providers will benefit from approximately $763,000 in annual savings, including:

  • $360,000 from reducing required training hours (from 16 to 10 hours annually), and
  • $403,000 from eliminating licensing fees (applications, renewals, and late fees).

New staff-training requirements introduced by the proposed amended regulations are expected to result in an estimated maximum annual cost of $101,261.20, including:

  • $85,433 for CPR and first aid certification, and
  • $15,828.20 for medication administration training.
    Actual costs are expected to be lower because many staff are already certified or trained.

Impacts on Other Stakeholders:

  • The elimination of licensing fees may reduce funding for local health departments, which previously supported local licensing activities.
  • Training organizations may see reduced demand due to fewer required training hours.
  • There may be potential reductions in licensing-related jobs or workload.
  • The state will incur a one-time IT system update cost of $71,190.

The regulations simplify and consolidate requirements, increasing flexibility and reducing administrative burden for providers, while shifting some financial and operational impacts to government entities and related organizations.

Janet Stanek
Secretary
Kansas Department of Health and Environment

Doc. No. 054173

Secretary of State Seal