By Parker McKenzie
A community panel will undertake a review of Knox City Council’s kindergarten services after the Victorian government expanded universal kindergarten to include four-year-olds and three-year-olds.
In a council meeting on Monday 29 August, councillors voted to implement a community engagement plan for broad community consultation followed by the establishment of the panel.
Cr Marcia Timmers-Leitch, who moved the motion, said Knox City Council has a proud history of delivering kindergarten services.
“Currently, the council operates three and four-year-old programs out of 29 community owned facilities,” she said.
“It employs 145 dedicated staff to deliver these services, of which 79 per cent are currently rated as exceeding the national quality standards.”
She said the review, in light of the changes made by the state government in regards to free kindergarten, is “a normal part of responsible governance for any service local government offer.”
The motion passed with only Cr Sorina Grasso opposing the motion.
Knox City Council operates 29 sessional kindergarten services in single-room, standalone facilities at a cost of $3.3 million to the council budget each year.
Since January 2022, the council’s kindergarten services have provided five hours of kindergarten to three-year-old children and 15 hours to four-year-old children. The state government’s expansion of universal kindergarten will see 4-year-olds receive 30 hours of pre-prep from 2025 and 15 hours for 3-year-olds from 2029.
“The significant challenges this context poses for Council due to the small size, condition, utilisation and age of our existing facilities as well as declining enrollment in sessional programs and limited financial resources.” The engagement plan said.
An independent consultant will be appointed to recruit and facilitate the community panel, with feedback on the service review commencing in October. Kindergarten services will operate as usual while the review is undertaken.
Mayor Susan Laukens said while the council welcomes the reforms, rising costs of providing the service are diverting resources.
“Council makes a significant financial investment into kindergarten services and facilities to support children and families but fully funding the additional resources required to implement the reforms is beyond our financial capacity,” she said.
“The panel will be informed by feedback provided from kindergarten families and the broader community. We need to ensure feedback is representative of our whole community and the panel will ensure the diverse views and perspectives of our community are heard.”
The review will discuss the council’s role as early year’s manager and how changes might be managed to make kindergarten services more financially viable. The engagement plan states “the services cannot continue to be delivered within current resourcing,” while committing to the expansion of minimum group sizes, no new kindergarten fees and no increase to rates to offset the costs.
