The Budget and ece

This from the association...

The Budget delivered nothing for early childhood funding, meaning another effective cut for us at Whanau Manaaki, because there is no compensation for inflation.

 

New Zealand Kindergartens’ budget press statement describes the budget as “a big disappointment” and an opportunity lost. NZK chief executive Clare Wells says: “…quality is likely to take a backward step as services are forced to cut budgets”.

 

This cut to funding is hidden because the government has put extra money aside for the increase in the population, while the amount per child remains frozen. The amount per child per hour in kindergarten remains less than it was in 2008 – despite eight years of inflation.

 

There has also been no increase to equity funding, despite the government saying it wants to target funding to those most at risk.   Increases to special education are aimed at schools, which again is disappointing as the research shows early intervention is crucial for educational success.

 

Te Rito Maioha describes it as “insulting” while NZEI says yet another funding squeeze will undermine quality learning.  The Child Poverty Action Group, which holds post-budget breakfasts around the country to highlight what the budget offers children, says “this is not the New Zealand we want.” Child Poverty Action says “when so many families are in crisis and children are bearing the brunt, this budget does nothing.”

 

This budget, and the fact that the freeze on early childhood funding barely rates a mention in the budget media coverage, highlights the importance of our campaign to make early childhood funding an election issue. The Stuff website, one of the two main news websites, even said ECE was a ‘big winner’ in the budget. 

 

The government uses the slogan “more children in quality early learning” but its actions do nothing to ensure quality, although it is providing $436 million over four years for an  additional 14,000 children in early childhood education by 2019/2020.

 

In other budget areas, the schools operational funding was also frozen, which will mean more costs are passed onto parents. Increases to special education in schools should mean more children qualify for ORs support, while schools with a large number of beneficiary families are likely to get some additional targeted money – although schools say this is $2 a week for a child at risk and will not go far.  There were no significant other budget initiatives to support children and families.

 

We need to work together to make sure that quality ECE and proper funding features large in future budgets.