Educators breath sigh of relief as NSW Government backs down on community preschool funding cuts

The New South Wales Government has confirmed that it will delay the implementation of controversial new community preschool funding rules in a move that will provide relief for the many educators whose jobs were at risk given the size of the funding cuts. 

"We have listened to the concerns of the sector, and we've responded to that by guaranteeing their funding for two years," Premier Chris Minns said. 

"That will freeze their funding at, at least, last year's level, so that will give community preschools a funding guarantee that they will not go backwards while we work with them on how we can get more children into their high quality preschool."

For 2027 and 2028 every community and mobile preschool will now receive its 2026 funding allocation adjusted for operational changes such as hours and enrolments.

Freeze will come as a relief to many but concerns likely to remain 

Historically community preschool funding has been allocated based on the number of enrolments a service registers. However, going forward funding will be linked to the expected costs, including staffing costs, incurred. 

This small shift in methodology will disproportionately impact community pre-schools that tend to be smaller and more readily roster above ratio, often including a centre manager as a third educator.

Under the new rules, services that roster above ratio would not receive funding to help offset the cost despite the decision to over-roster being anchored in quality provision and in turn lead to redundancies across the setting. 

Labor pressed to change course by community protest and Liberal’s pledge

As the news of the Government's initial decision to reset the funding methodology spread through the sector, stakeholders, including educators but also parents and the community at large expressed their concerns via multiple protest rallies and demonstrations. 

The scale of the push back was also picked up by the NSW Liberal Party and resulted in a  pledge to maintain current funding arrangements at community preschools as well as funding for preschool programs at approved long day care services if they were elected. 

Premier Minns’ decision to change course validates the advocacy work that has been in play across the sector in recent weeks that ultimately aimed to safeguard quality and livelihoods, both of which were at threat from the new policy and which was ultimately successful. 

To read the ABC’s reporting on the matter please click here.