staffing-to-ratio-scheduling

name	staffing-to-ratio-scheduling
description	Schedule staff to the required ratio at a cost the tuition covers: model labor as a step function that jumps a whole teacher at each ratio boundary, cover open/close and breaks in ratio, and read the ratio-driven labor cost per room against its revenue. State-specific ratios verify-at-use.

Staffing to Ratio Scheduling

Staffing to ratio is where compliance and the cost model meet. Labor is the dominant cost in a center, and it does not slide smoothly — it steps up a whole teacher each time a room crosses a ratio boundary. Ratios are state-specific and [verify-at-use].

The loop

1. Model labor as a step function. For each age group, the required ratio sets how many children one teacher covers. Adding the child that crosses the boundary adds a whole teacher's cost, not a fraction — see the staff-a-room-to-ratio tree in ../../knowledge/childcare-decision-trees.md.
2. Cover the whole day in ratio. Ratio must hold at open, at close, and through breaks and nap transitions — the schedule, not just the roster, must never dip below ratio. Openers/closers and float coverage are part of the model.
3. Only count ratio-countable staff. Qualified, verified adults count toward ratio; others don't — coordinate with ../ratios-and-licensing-compliance/SKILL.md so the schedule's headcount is the compliant headcount.
4. Read cost per room against revenue. Compute the ratio-driven labor cost of each room and compare it to the room's tuition revenue at current enrollment. A partly-filled room can be underwater because the teacher is fixed while the tuition scales with enrolled children.
5. Fill toward the next boundary, deliberately. A room just over a boundary (one extra child forcing a second teacher) is the least efficient state — fill it toward full or don't cross the boundary. That capacity-and-margin call is childcare-center-lead's.

Metrics

Metric	Reads	Note
Ratio-driven labor cost / room	teachers required × cost	The step function, per room
Revenue per enrolled child / room	tuition ÷ enrolled	Compare to the labor step
Enrollment vs ratio boundary	children to next teacher	Just-over-boundary = least efficient
Coverage-in-ratio all day	open/close/breaks held	Schedule, not roster

Anti-patterns

• Averaging labor cost instead of modeling the whole-teacher step.
• Scheduling to ratio at midday but dropping below it at open/close or breaks.
• Counting non-ratio-countable adults to hit a number.
• Running a room one child over a boundary indefinitely.

See also

• ../ratios-and-licensing-compliance/SKILL.md, ../../templates/ratio-staffing-plan.md.
• Best practices: ../../best-practices/staff-to-ratio-is-the-cost-model.md, ../../best-practices/ratios-are-a-floor-not-a-target.md.