A plug is needed to plug the ever-growing funding gap in daycare centers in Bavaria. All association representatives and state parliamentarians agreed on this on Thursday at the expert hearing in the state parliament’s social committee. For more than five hours, they discussed a possible reform of the Bavarian Child Education and Care Act (BayKiBiG) and focused in particular on the financing of daycare centers.
“The system is collapsing. A mayor calls me every day because it is no longer financially viable,” said Manfred Riederle, deputy managing director of the Bavarian Association of Cities.
The thrust of all invited experts was clear: more state funding is needed for daycare centers in Bavaria. Currently, state funding only covers 60 percent of the average operating costs of a daycare center. The rest must be financed through parental contributions, donations or by the municipalities. This funding gap has been growing for years.
According to the interest groups, there is also a north-south divide and, especially in the municipalities in Franconia, there is a lack of money to refinance the facilities. This is particularly problematic with regard to educational equity and equal opportunities, which the daycare law is intended to ensure. “The fact that adequate financing of childcare depends on the financial possibilities of the respective municipalities is absolutely not sustainable. It cannot be the case that the framework conditions are the worst where the socio-economic conditions are the most difficult,” said Dirk Rumpff, finance director of the Evangelical Daycare Association, to the SZ before the meeting.
The funding for the providers has so far been made up of a municipal and a state funding component. However, this is not sufficient due to increased operating costs such as rent and higher quality standards. The municipalities are apparently no longer able to make up for the funding gap that has arisen over the years. In order to prevent a drastic increase in parental contributions or even closures of facilities, the experts on the committee believe that financial support from the Free State is needed as soon as possible. “The house is on fire,” said Kurt Krömer, First Mayor of the town of Stein in the district of Fürth, representing the Bavarian Association of Municipalities. In order to be able to keep the municipal deficits lower despite the rising costs, the funding must be increased from the current 60 percent to 90 percent. “We can’t make up for it completely anyway.”
Alexa Glawogger-Feucht, managing director of the Association of Catholic Daycare Centers, called for one billion euros to compensate for the bottlenecks in the municipalities. In the long term, operating costs should be subsidized to a greater extent so that providers can plan better and meet the high quality standards in the Daycare Act.
Nobody wanted to cut corners on quality. The value of early childhood education and the performance of daycare centers in terms of support, integration and inclusion was undisputed. But at what price? “We urgently need better working conditions,” said Lisa Pfeiffer, from the Bavarian Association of Daycare Professionals. Educators needed a lot of time to be able to respond to the enormous challenges with the necessary sensitivity.
Private providers exploit the gap in the system
An increase in state funding for childcare is also important in light of the increasing profit orientation of providers: a lack of daycare places and the persistent demand for places means that childcare is becoming increasingly interesting for private investors. Desperate parents who cannot find a place for their child sometimes have to pay large sums of 1,000 euros or more for private daycare centers. “The government has looked the other way for far too long,” said Doris Rauscher (SPD), chair of the Social Affairs Committee. Now there will be no way around reform and higher subsidies. Rauscher, however, saw no reason for optimism.
According to Rauscher, the 3.5 billion euros that the federal government has made available for the further expansion of daycare centers are far from sufficient to ensure a long-term improvement in conditions. “The expansion does not help if there is a lack of skilled workers.” The lack of staff is the other major problem facing daycare centers in Bavaria. Although there are various training programs and training capacities have been increased, educators cannot be magically created. This was recently shown at a committee hearing six weeks ago.
However, financing is apparently not the only lever for improving the precarious situation: Riederle spoke out several times to point out the complexity of the daycare law. “It is important to keep in mind that the legal requirements remain implementable,” said Riederle.