Something must be done about the high cost of childcare in Minnesota. But as I have illustrated in a previous article, solutions like tax credits fail to address why costs are high in the first place.
So, what can lawmakers do about the lack of affordable childcare in Minnesota? American Experiment’s newly released policy briefing offers a way forward.
As the evidence indicates, Minnesota has one of the most stringently regulated childcare industries in the country.
In a Child Care Regulations Index published in February 2026, the Archbridge Institute ranked Minnesota as the 10th most burdensome state for childcare center regulations. In the Midwest region, only Wisconsin, another high-cost state, had more stringent rules.
Therefore, to lower costs, lawmakers must remove burdensome rules that drive providers out of the market, restricting supply.
What lawmakers can do
Legislators can start by adopting proposals by the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to relax hiring requirements for teachers at daycare centers.
Currently, it takes over 3 years of combined education and work experience for a high school graduate to become a daycare center teacher. These rules have resulted in a shortage of workers. In 2024 alone, DCYF issued over 4,000 variances authorizing centers to hire workers who did not meet state requirements. As the brief explains,
This indicates a structural mismatch between state rules and the qualifications of the applicant pool that is unlikely to be addressed by increased funding. It also suggests that some centers could be operating below capacity due to worker shortages, making reform urgent.
As part of the Child Care Regulation Modernization Project, DCYF has suggested reducing college education requirements for centers. If adopted, a high school graduate would need 12 college credits (down from 16) and 480 hours of experience (down from 4,160) to become a teacher.
These proposals are a step in the right direction, but do not go far enough.
In Wisconsin, for instance, a childcare teacher needs 4 college credits and 3 months of work experience. Training takes seven months. Even with 12 college credits, a high school graduate in Minnesota would still need nearly two years of training.
American Experiment proposes further reducing college credits to match Wisconsin. Better yet, legislators can waive college requirements altogether and leverage existing pre-service and annual training to meet safety and quality standards.
Beyond hiring requirements, legislators should also relax staff-to-child ratios and group size limits. Relative to most states, Minnesota imposes strict limits on the number of children that center staff can care for. This raises the price of care per child. Relaxing ratios would allow centers to distribute costs over many more families, reducing costs.
And while the median annual training hours for child care center staff is 15 hours (in North Dakota), Minnesota requires 24 hours of training. South Dakota and Iowa require 10 and 2 hours of training, respectively. Aligning Minnesota with neighboring states would lower the burden imposed on workers and daycare centers.
Conclusion
The child-care crisis is government-made. It is a result of stringent regulations that exacerbate worker shortages, restrict child care supply, and drive up costs for providers. Solutions like tax credits and other subsidies merely shift costs onto taxpayers.
To truly address childcare shortages and high prices, legislators should:
- Loosen staff hiring requirements
- Relax staff-child ratios, and
- Reduce training hours
