If Olmsted County wants to look for an example of outsourcing its child-care licensing, it can view Mower County's experience.
There, said Julie Stevermer, Mower's human services director, the county has outsourced its child-care licensing for a decade or longer. Olmsted County is weighing whether to enter a 10-county regional partnership that would outsource the service and relax some of its standards.
Joining a regional partnership wouldn't greatly affect the quality of that service, and might make it more cost-effective, Stevermer said. The county licenses 99 child care providers. A total of about 1,700 licensed providers operate within the 10-county region.
Licensing services vary across the region, said Patrick Gannon, executive director of the nonprofit agency Child Care Resource & Referral.
The agency, which has been following the licensing issue, considered whether it might respond to the expected request for proposals, soliciting a private provider to take over the service, but decided it will not.
"We feel the licensing aspect of this is appropriately a government function," Gannon said.
A question is whether the request for proposals will attract any response.
"I'm not aware of individuals or agencies that might respond," Gannon said. "I'm just not really certain who would do that."
Child Care Resource & Referral offers training and professional development for care providers. It will have a hand in maintaining care quality after the changes, at least for people who choose to take advantage of it.
"For a really well run family child care, there may not be any loss in quality," Gannon said.
Less conscientious care providers could slip.
"There's less interaction; there's less regulation," Gannon said.