Child Care Centers and K–12 Schools on Campus — Utah's School Pest Rule and the Higher-Education Exclusion

Utah's school sanitation rule, R392-200, requires every K–12 school to adopt and implement a written integrated pest management plan. The same rule “does not apply to a … place of higher education” or a “child care center.” On a campus, that draws a line around two kinds of building.

K–12 schools on campus

R392-200 defines “school” to include “any charter school.” Some Utah campuses host one:

By the rule's definitions, these are schools, and the universities around them are places of higher education. The rule's requirements, in R392-200-18: minimize pests that are disease vectors, allergen carriers, or stinging and biting pests; a written IPM plan with seven named topics, available to the local health officer; non-chemical methods when possible; R68-7 compliance for school personnel who apply pesticides in place of a contractor; and label-compliant application by any applicator. The rule does not say how it applies where a school occupies university buildings.

Child care centers

Child care centers are excluded from R392-200 at R392-200-3(2)(a). A licensed center's licensing rule addresses pests at R381-100-15(2): “The provider shall take safe and effective measures to prevent and eliminate the presence of insects, rodents, and other pests.”

The state's licensing records show how each campus program is regulated. Each record below was read on the Utah Department of Health and Human Services provider search on September 25, 2026; the license type and capacity are as the record shows them.

Eleven of the fourteen are licensed Child Care Centers, so R381-100-15(2) is the pest provision of their licensing rule. Three are Child Care Exempt Programs; whether R381-100's pest provision reaches an exempt program is not established on this reference. A separate record at the UKids Sunnyside address, Utah Community Action – UKids-Sunnyside (record 158207), is listed as a Child Care Registered Center Based Program, exempt. One program named by a university, the University of Utah Child and Family Development Center, was not found in the provider search.

Records that show the requirements were met

• For a school: the written IPM plan with each topic in R392-200-18(1)(b), monitoring and control records, the notification policy, and applicator qualifications
• For a child care center: pest sightings, the measures taken, and evidence they were effective; insecticide storage and labeling