THE state government’s failure to provide additional funding for kindergarten infrastructure in last week’s budget means less than a third of Wyndham Council’s kinder groups will have access to 15 hours of care a week.
The council operates 93 kindergarten groups but chief executive Kerry Thompson said that without extra government funding, the council would only be able to provide 27 groups with 15 hours of kinder a week.
Ms Thompson said the council did not have sufficient facilities and needed funding to build more rooms and hire extra staff. “The 15hours of universal access to kindergartens … will not be available in our highest growth areas.
“In the current system, we can offer three classes of 10.75 hours per week in each of the buildings available. To offer 15 hours a week, Wyndham City can only offer two classes per building, given constraints with the number of staff and access to facilities.”
Her comments follow criticism from the Municipal Association of Victoria.
The MAV said councils were investing heavily to deliver on a state-federal agreement to provide 15 hours of kindergarten a week to four-year-olds by 2013, but needed extra funding to build more rooms and employ more staff.
It said councils like Wyndham were the most disadvantaged by the lack of funding in the budget.
Opposition children and young adults spokeswoman Jenny Mikakos raised Wyndham’s plight in Parliament last week, saying that the council was under considerable pressure.
She said in Point Cook alone, the number of four-year-olds was expected to jump from 874 in 2011 to 1095 in 2013.
“Given that the Baillieu government has not provided any capital funding in this year’s state budget for kindergarten infrastructure, I am concerned that councils like the City of Wyndham will be struggling to keep up with demand.
“I urge [Children and Early Childhood Development Minister Wendy Lovell] to allocate the federal money she has received as part of the national partnership to ensure that that City of Wyndham receives funding to construct two new early years centres to accommodate the growing demand for kindergarten programs in that municipality.”
Ms Lovell said the government would provide $50million in capital funding grants later this month to expand kinders in a way that would ensure children had access to 15 hours a week.
