The Oregon OCC ratio cheatsheet, by room
Every band, every age cutoff, every common mistake. Printable for the office wall.
Oregon's Office of Child Care (OCC) sets the staff-to-child ratios every licensed center must follow. The numbers themselves are simple. The mistakes happen at the edges: kids aging into a new band mid-year, mixed-age rooms, the difference between "in care" and "on the playground."
This is the cheatsheet we run our own centers from. It's not legal advice. For the full rules, see the OCC's published Child Care Division rules. But it's what we keep printed in the breakroom.
The ratios, by age band
| Age band | Max ratio (staff : children) | Max group size |
|---|---|---|
| Infant (under 24 mo) | 1 : 4 | 8 |
| Toddler (24–36 mo) | 1 : 5 | 10 |
| Preschool (3 yr) | 1 : 10 | 20 |
| Preschool (4 yr) | 1 : 10 | 20 |
| Pre-K (5 yr, not in kindergarten) | 1 : 15 | 25 |
| School-age (5+ yr, in kindergarten) | 1 : 15 | 25 |
Where most violations happen
1. Aging up mid-year
A child turning 3 in October doesn't automatically promote to a preschool room. Many centers move them at the start of the next session. Until they actually move, the toddler ratio applies.
2. The bathroom break
If a teacher steps into the staff bathroom and a parent volunteer is "watching" the room, you're out of compliance. Volunteers don't count toward staff ratios unless they meet the same training and background-check requirements.
3. The drop-off / pickup edge
The moment a parent's signature lands on the sign-in sheet (or a tap in your check-in app), the child is in care. If your morning teacher hasn't arrived yet, you're under-staffed.
4. The playground transition
Outside time has the same ratios as indoor time. The "we're going for a walk so I'll just take the whole class" instinct is a violation if you don't have a second adult.
The two-deep rule
Even when ratios technically allow a single staffer (e.g., five toddlers and one teacher), Oregon requires a second adult on premises at all times. This is the rule that catches small home-based providers most often.
How RoundUp helps
Honestly: we built this software because we kept getting these numbers wrong. RoundUp watches every check-in, knows every child's age band, and alerts the director's phone the moment a room is one student away from breaching ratio. Yellow at 80%, red if you'd exceed.
It also keeps a tamper-proof audit log of every ratio reading, which is the first thing OCC inspectors ask for.
Sources. Oregon Administrative Rules Chapter 414, Division 350 (Certified Child Care Centers). Last reviewed: 2026-05-07. Always confirm current rules with your OCC licensor, because these change.