[Eridrus]

It's not readily apparent that increasing the amount of children per staff member will significantly impact a child's ability to "succeed" in life as an adult.

I'm not sure how we expect a 1:6 ratio to be "cheap", even before factoring in costs like real estate.

[protomyth]

For Head Start the staffing has a safety component. Think how many staff needed to get various ages out of a burning building.

[Eridrus]

Seems like a pretty weak reason to keep permanent staff unless fires are common. It's as if there is absolutely no-one else around who could help in an emergency except people paid to be there full time.

[protomyth]

Telling a parent their kid burnt up because you didn't have the staff is not a weak reason. Safety is a component of staffing guidelines and not the only reason.