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Pre-school parents, teachers hit by funding stand-off

Oct 22, 2015
Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

Parents planning to send their children to kindergarten next year are still in the dark about whether they will be able to attend for two days or two and a half, because the State Government is yet to sign up to a Commonwealth funding arrangement.

The stand-off is throwing planning for 2016 into chaos as kindies across the state hold information sessions with families enrolled for next term, with pre-schools unable to guarantee 15 hours a week of tuition.

One kindergarten worker told InDaily: “There are staff that don’t know whether they’ll have jobs next year… it’s a huge thing for us.”

Jill, whose daughter is due to begin at her southern suburbs kindergarten next year, told InDaily the delay was “frustrating”.

“In today’s busy lives we try and organise as quickly as possible the care for our children, particularly if there’s two working parents,” she said.

“Not knowing whether there’s half a day impacts on your decision-making about who’s going to care for our children.

“I’m in the fortunate situation that I can get that childcare and it’s on hold for me, but a lot of other people wouldn’t be in that position.

“It’s October and we’re still waiting, it’s frustrating – you’d hope there’s a decision sooner rather than later.”

The “universal access” funding model has been in place since 2008, with states and territories responsible for funding 12 hours (two days) of weekly pre-school care and tuition, and the Commonwealth funding an additional three hours – an extra half day.

A one-year universal access agreement is in place for 2015 after a similar delay last year. In May, then-Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne announced funding of $840 million over two years to continue to top up preschool programs across Australia, with the current arrangement expiring at the end of this term.

But five months on, states and territories have still not signed on, with each tier blaming the other for the delay.

A midyear communiqué to staff from state Education chief Tony Harrison said SA had not been provided with a “final agreement as yet”, and that “DECD preschools should not commit to delivering more than the 12 hours per week” in the interim.

SA Pre-school Directors Association president Marilyn Clark told InDaily the stand-off was “not good for families (and) certainly not good for us, in terms of trying to organise staff”.

“We’ve been assured an announcement will be made very soon, but I guess we’re becoming quite concerned that it’s moving towards the end of the year with people not knowing what their pre-school entitlement will be,” she said.

“That affects their childcare arrangements, their work arrangements – all sorts of things.”

Troublingly, she also said the funding affected “a couple of programs for children with significant needs”.

“They’re not assured of what their future arrangements are either,” she said.

She said kindergarten staff were having to relay the uncertainty to families, “and that’s quite difficult, because most people don’t see the logic in this”.

Clark said her understanding was that the State Government was “still examining the offer”, but the Australian Education Union suggested the holdup was coming from the Commonwealth.

“It’s really in the hands of the federal and State Government, but I don’t believe the State Government would want this held up,” said AEU state vice-president Howard Spreadbury.

“We’ve got members who have been receiving increased hours of work – part-time support staff for example – and that’s now not assured … so yes, we’ve got members whose hours of work are potentially in jeopardy.

“We continue to put the matter back before the minister … we all want a resolution as quickly as possible.”

AEU national secretary Correna Haythorpe said the union had been “campaigning nationally to get funding in place in a more permanent way”, with ad hoc agreements potentially causing annual uncertainty.

“It’s a crucial issue for us,” she said.

“We recognise the importance of early education, we believe universal access should be fully funded.”

New Education Minister Simon Birmingham. AAP image

New Education Minister Simon Birmingham. AAP image

A spokesman for new federal education minister Simon Birmingham said the Commonwealth’s commitment “is clear and public – the current National Partnership has been extended to support a further two years of pre-school, with funding to the tune of $843 million”.

“That means $27 million under the current agreement for SA for pre-school in 2015 and an additional $55.4 million on the table to support pre-school over the next two years,” he said.

“After two formal rounds of consultation and late in the process, state and territories have raised questions about this funding and have slowed the progress of finalising the partnership … we stand ready to finalise this agreement so that the certainty we sought to deliver to families and pre-schools in May can be realised.”

But state Education Minister Susan Close insists the Commonwealth is “yet to provide a formal offer based on changes to performance indicators”.

“Therefore, no jurisdiction in Australia has signed up,” she said.

“I urge the Commonwealth to address this as soon as possible to allay any concerns there may be in the community about the number of hours children can attend pre-school next year.”

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