Free tool. No signup.
Staff-to-child ratio calculator
Enter each room, the children you expect, and your required children-per-staff ratio. The calculator returns the minimum staff each room needs and your buffer above it. The total buffer is your daily capacity: the number of people who can be off before you break ratio.
| Room | Max Children | Children per Staff | Min Staff | Assigned Staff | Buffer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Your rooms stay in this browser. Nothing is sent to us, and there is nothing to sign up for. Send this page to another director and they get their own copy.
What to do with your daily capacity
Turn it into an approval rule. If your buffer is 2, no more than 2 staff go off on the same day. The rule decides, not you. Staff accept a rule far more readily than a judgment call.
Hold one place back for sick calls. A buffer of 2 with 2 people already approved leaves nothing for the flu. Approve 1 planned absence per day and keep the second place free.
Tighten it in cold and flu season. From November to March, drop the limit by one. Enrollment also falls over the holidays, so recalculate then instead of guessing.
One honest note
Time Off Schedule does not calculate ratios. It has no knowledge of your enrollment, your rooms, or your licensing rules. This calculator is a free standalone tool, not a product feature. What the product does is enforce the number you work out here: you set a coverage minimum, and it blocks any request that would drop you below it.
Read the full method in staff-to-child ratios: staying compliant through time off.
Turn the number into a written policy with The Daycare Staffing Playbook. Seven chapters, also free.
Stop re-checking the number by hand
Set your coverage minimum once. Time Off Schedule blocks the request that would break it, shows staff a full day before they ask, and timestamps every approval for licensing.
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