The bund will no longer encourage Kita-fees reduction
In Germany, there are hundreds of thousands of Kindergarten places and personnel missing. Many people can hardly afford a place. Kindergarten funding helps here. However, it should no longer be used in the future to reduce fees. The money should be used elsewhere.
The states should no longer be allowed to use the billions of the federal government for kindergarten funding to relieve parents of fees. Instead, the money should primarily flow into securing and acquiring specialized personnel, as outlined in a paper on the planned new version of the Kindergarten Quality Law.
So far, the states have been able to use federal funds worth up to two billion euros per year to reduce or abolish kindergarten fees to a maximum of 49%. With the new law, which is expected to pass through the cabinet in the coming weeks, this possibility will no longer exist. According to the Family Ministry, only six federal states actually use this option, with Berlin being an example.
Kindergarten fees will not increase
The Ministry also does not expect the new regulation to lead to higher kindergarten fees. The states would still have the opportunity to finance the relief of parents from fees using their own funds, it says. In addition, there should be a six-month transition period during which the use of funds for the regulation of kindergarten fees as before would still be allowed. The new Kindergarten Quality Law is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2025. The agreement within the federal government on this has only just begun.
In this and the previous year, the federal government has promoted kindergarten quality with funds worth eight billion euros. Another four billion euros are planned for the next two years, that is, 2025 and 2026.
Tens of thousands of kindergarten specialists are missing
With the law change, the states will be obliged to invest the money in a measure to secure and acquire qualified personnel, according to the paper. Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus emphasized that in the future, the focus of kindergarten funding will be on the quality of the institutions - hence the focus on specialists. Investments in early education are "central for the educational success and equal opportunities of our children," said Paus. The government aims to achieve "equal standards in all kindergartens" nationwide.
The Minister does not name a target number for the desired personnel. Paus had recently said that there could be 50,000 to 90,000 missing specialists in Germany's kindergartens by 2030. According to the recently published Kindergarten Report of the Parity Welfare Association, there could be as many as 125,000 missing specialists in the entire field of childcare. How this personnel gap can be closed is unclear.
The proposed changes in the Kindergarten Quality Law aim to prevent the use of federal funds to reduce or eliminate Kindergarten fees, instead prioritizing the investment in securing and acquiring specialized personnel. This shift in focus, advocated by Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus, is in response to the 'labormarket squeezes' and the shortage of thousands of Kindergarten specialists across Germany, potentially reaching up to 125,000 by 2030 as mentioned in the Kindergarten Report.
Political discussions on the new Kindergarten Quality Law suggest that the states will be obligated to allocate funds towards addressing the 'Seat-Places' crisis and the missing specialists issue, rather than reducing parental fees.
