A few thousand Munich parents may have to pay hundreds of euros more per month for the care of their children from next year. At least that’s what the umbrella organization of private daycare centers in Bavaria (DBTK) assumes. “We don’t want that, but the carriers will have to raise their prices,” says board member Andreas Kurzlechner.
From the DBTK’s point of view, the higher fees are a consequence of the new funding logic, which is to replace the Munich funding formula in January 2024. The city’s planning envisages converting the current subsidy system into a deficit compensation system. The city assures the daycare providers that they will take over possible deficits.
For private daycare providers, such funding is problematic for several reasons, says Kurzlechner: Among other things, daycare centers are no longer allowed to make profits and certain costs are standardized. If, for example, a carrier pays very high rents due to a downtown location, that is a problem.
In a quick survey, several providers of private daycare centers with a total of 8,000 childcare places stated that they were unlikely to join such a support system. This includes daycare centers that are now subsidized via the Munich subsidy formula and where parents pay low fees of a maximum of 162 euros per daycare place. Without municipal subsidies, he would have to charge more than 1,000 euros a month per daycare place, said one operator.
Many families cannot afford more than 1000 euros for a daycare place
A mother whose child attends a private crèche says her family cannot afford a crèche place for more than 1,000 euros – that is 850 euros more than before. “How are you supposed to do that as a parent?” she asks. They earned too little for such daycare prices, but too much to take advantage of the economic youth welfare service. They applied for 30 daycare places and only received rejections; they only got a place in the private day-care center. Now her day care center has informed her that the fees will increase drastically from next year. And the mother is considering taking parental leave again to look after her child at home.
The new daycare funding concept became necessary because of a court ruling in autumn 2021. The administrative court had classified the Munich funding formula as unlawful in response to a lawsuit filed by a private daycare provider. In December 2022, the SPD and Greens parliamentary groups presented a deficit compensation system as a solution.
Next week, the education committee will deal with daycare funding. In the draft resolution on this, the education department writes that even with a deficit compensation system, there is a considerable risk of encroachments on fundamental rights with certain controlling structures. It is unclear how many carriers will join this model, it said. And: A comprehensive relief for parents cannot be guaranteed.
The DBTK does not rule out another lawsuit
CSU city councilor Beatrix Burkhardt takes a critical view of the planned funding concept. This can be expected to have serious disadvantages for many institutions. “It is to be feared that the existence of many private institutions will be endangered and that the shortage of daycare places will worsen,” says the education politician.
DBTK Managing Director Andreas Lorenz brings another solution into play: “The simplest thing would be education vouchers for the parents. They could also be staggered according to income. However, this path was deliberately not chosen because one wanted to deliberately exclude a group of carriers,” says he means the private day care providers.
If no compromise is found, a new lawsuit is also conceivable, according to the DBTK board. Some members have already asked the association to do so.