Audit Finds LDE Conducts Most Required Inspections of Child Care Providers

An evaluation of the Louisiana Department of Education’s (LDE) regulation of child care providers found that while the Department conducts most of the required annual inspections, it needs to strengthen its regulatory processes in some areas.

For example, auditors found that the Department’s child care licensing standards did not meet all national best practices related to child-to-staff ratios, group sizes, and oversight of family and in-home providers. Louisiana is one of eight states that allow family and in-home providers to care for more than six children without requiring a license, while best practices call for licensing these providers if the number of children being cared for exceeds six, including the provider’s own children.

LDE also did not have an effective process in place to collect, investigate, and monitor complaints related to licensed child care providers and family and in-home providers. Auditors found that the Department did not have a central tracking system for complaints and did not consistently document whether complaints are substantiated.

Auditors found as well that the Department did not effectively investigate complaints about unlicensed providers, did not impose required fines when it found providers operating without a license, and did not always issue enforcement actions to address deficiencies found during inspections.

Further, LDE did not have procedures in place detailing when to conduct follow-up inspections to verify that deficiencies had been corrected. The Department also did not ensure that its child care provider website contained all information required by law.