NEW YORK, NY March 08, 2007 —The Health Department has proposed a sweeping overhaul of the city’s group daycare centers. It’s the latest attempt to make daycare safer after a child died at a Queens center more than two years ago. WNYC’s Fred Mogul has more.

Officials say the city lags behind both state and federal standards in a number of crucial areas. The proposed regulations would require one adult supervisor for every three infants instead of every four. Training requirements for centers with seven or more children would be widely expanded so that all infant and toddler teachers would eventually need associate degrees, although staff members with enough experience can be grandfathered in. The department also wants to get rid of a category called No Permit Required - an exemption it has extended until now to centers attached to parochial schools.

It’s not clear whether this will increase the cost of daycare for families, but a Health Department spokesman says the city wants to help make it as available and affordable as possible. There will be a 30-day comment period to consider the proposals. For WNYC, I’m Fred Mogul.