75 Providers Told CDEC What the Ratio Decrease Would Do.
The Data Is Unambiguous.
Survey results presented directly to Colorado Department of Early Childhood leadership. This is what private childcare providers in Colorado said.
By the Numbers
75 Colorado private childcare providers responded to an urgent survey in May 2026 about the UPK ratio decrease mandate for the 2026-27 school year. These are their direct, unfiltered responses.
Can Providers Pursue the Level 4 Alternate Pathway?
If the Change Takes Effect, the Most Likely Outcome Is:
Financial Impact at a Glance
The Alternate Pathway Doesn't Exist Right Now
CDEC's stated solution for providers who want to keep the current 1:12 ratio is to obtain a Level 4 Colorado Shines rating. There is one critical problem with that solution.
The state has frozen all QRIS ratings and rerate processes. Providers who want to earn or improve their Colorado Shines rating cannot do so right now - regardless of their qualifications, effort, or willingness to invest. The alternate pathway CDEC is offering is structurally inaccessible. The ratio decrease will apply to virtually every provider in Colorado by default.
Commitments Were Already Made - to Families and to Providers
Providers enrolled families for 2026-27 based on current ratios. Many are already at or near full enrollment. And the 2-year implementation timeline was not a provider demand - it was the recommendation of the Rules Advisory Council, the body CDEC itself assembled to guide this policy.
The Rules Advisory Council (RAC) - CDEC's own advisory body - recommended a 2-year implementation window to give providers time to pursue a Level 4 rating through the alternate pathway. Overriding that recommendation without transparent justification undermines the integrity of the rulemaking process.
A New Amendment Is Being Brought Back Through a Questionable Process
After receiving the RAC's recommendation, CDEC cited post-process input from three groups to justify bringing a new amendment back to the RAC for another vote. The problem: all three groups had the opportunity to participate in the original RAC process.
None of these three groups represent the segment that bears the actual financial impact of the ratio change. Using late-stage input from constituencies that aren't primarily affected - to reopen a closed advisory process - circumvents the rulemaking structure that is supposed to protect providers and the public from exactly this kind of outcome. If CDEC can always find a sympathetic audience after a RAC decision to justify a second vote, the RAC process means nothing.
What Providers Want CDEC to Know
These are direct quotes from survey respondents - real program directors and owners across Colorado.
What We Are Asking CDEC to Do
It is unreasonable to enforce a new ratio requirement while simultaneously freezing the only compliance pathway available to providers. The ratio decrease should be paused, at minimum, until Colorado Shines ratings resume and providers have had a full 2-year window to pursue Level 4 - the timeline the Rules Advisory Council (RAC) originally recommended.
-
1Honor the RAC's 2-year timeline recommendation. The Rules Advisory Council is the body CDEC convened to guide this policy. Overriding it through a second amendment driven by post-process input from non-impacted constituencies undermines the integrity of the entire rulemaking process.
-
2If the ratio change moves forward, increase per-child UPK reimbursement to offset lost enrollment revenue. Providers cannot absorb this cost on current subsidy rates. The state cannot simultaneously reduce providers' earning capacity and decline to compensate for the loss.
-
3Establish a formal, transparent process before any future ratio or requirement changes. Providers enrolled families, hired staff, and made business decisions based on the rules in place. Late-cycle changes break commitments to families and erode trust in UPK as a viable partnership.
-
4Show us the evidence. No peer-reviewed data has been provided demonstrating that the specific ratio change from 1:12 to 1:11 improves child outcomes. Providers and families deserve to know what justifies a disruption of this magnitude.
Private Providers Are Not the Obstacle to Quality Early Childhood Care in Colorado.
We are the infrastructure. Policies that destabilize us destabilize access for tens of thousands of Colorado families - the exact families UPK was created to serve.
