“We acknowledge the 1.5% funding increase to ECE services announced in the budget today” said Amanda Couslton, Kindergartens Aotearoa (KA) spokesperson. “It’s important we make sure it supports teaching and learning in every ECE service, and stabilises fee costs for parents and caregivers.”

However, funding is completely inadequate to meet the costs of high-quality service provision.

“Funding simply hasn’t kept pace with inflation and after minimal increases in recent years, the sector remains woefully underfunded and higher fees are out of reach for many households” said Amanda Coulston.

“Increasing state house rentals, no relief for fuel costs and the high cost of living impact the families and whānau we work with every day” said Amanda Coulston. “Government chooses where to spend our public funds and it has chosen not to support those communities. It’s a missed opportunity and that’s deeply disappointing.”

The way the increase will be applied differentiates between kindergarten and other ECE services. “We look to the government to implement a coherent approach to funding and to substantially increase funding in future – it’s simply not sustainable to continue with a piece- meal approach to funding, particularly when we know high-quality services with well qualified and supported teachers can make all the difference to children’s learning into their schooling years” Amanda Coulston said. “We need a planned and measured approach to sustain high- quality ECE and recognise the professionalism of our ECE teaching workforce.”

“Affordable, high-quality, inclusive ECE that is accessible across our diverse communities supports our tamariki and whānau to thrive – that has to be our priority” said Amanda Coulston.