Thursday, 31 August 2023

Kindergarten funding

Jess WILSON (Kew) (17:16): (335) My adjournment tonight is for the Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep, and the action I am seeking is for the minister to meet with representatives of sessional kinders in Boroondara to hear firsthand the impact of the government’s so-called free kinder program. I often talk about the concerning trust deficit between voters and those of us who represent them. This deficit is compounded by what voters perceive to be politician speak – when governments mislead people with weasel words and mask a policy’s true impact. Nowhere is this more evident than the government’s so-called free kinder program, which implies that the government is fully funding kindergarten programs across the state. This is simply not the case, as any number of sessional kinders will tell you.

The free kinder program provides $2500 of funding per enrolled child per kinder. You will probably not be surprised to learn that many kinders expend significantly more than $2500 per child throughout the year to provide high-quality early learning programs. This is the reality for most of the sessional kinders in the electorate of Kew. For these kinders, many of which consistently receive grades exceeding the national quality standards, the introduction of the free kinder program has not been the exciting new dawn in early childhood learning promised by this government. It has left them with a significant funding gap, and that funding gap will inevitably lead to cuts to staffing, to programs and to quality.

Of course the government could with the stroke of a pen easily rectify the situation by allowing kinders to charge a gap fee to families. But the so-called free kinder program does not allow kinders to charge parents a gap fee to bridge the amount of funding they receive per child and the cost of actually delivering their programs. This means that the government is effectively demanding kinders either run at a loss or cut costs – and if kindergartens want to remain solvent and viable, they cannot continue to run at a loss for years on end.

Most kinders in Kew tell me the vast majority of their budget is made up of staff wages – staff who have incredible experience and can provide the best early learning environment for kids. But it seems that the government are content to see these kinders cut staff wages just so that they can use the term ‘free kinder’ in their press releases. I am sure the government will say that these kinders can make a few savings here or there, but I know of one kindergarten in the electorate of Kew that is now at the stage of asking parents to donate tissues and toilet paper at the start of each term to help them keep their costs down – kind of like a hospital in Cuba. That is the reality facing kindergartens in Melbourne in 2023, thanks to the Andrews government.

We support the government funding of $2500 per child, but all this government needs to do to rectify this situation is to allow kinders to pass on the true cost of their programs to parents and permit a gap payment. In most cases it is a modest amount per child that allows kinders to continue to offer their wonderful programs and support their brilliant teaching teams. Parents have a choice about where they send their kids to kinder. Allowing kinders to choose whether to charge a gap payment will simply be reflected in the choice parents make. So I ask the minister for early childhood to make the time to meet with kinders in the City of Boroondara.