Blue Gum Community School director Maureen Hartung, right, at the pre-school in Dickson with teacher

Michaeli Smallwood and preschoolers Ruben, Tigerlily, Lachlan, Remy and Alice

The Canberra Times December 13 2009

Preschool queries funds decision

By DAVID CURRY

A Canberra community preschool has hit out at ACT Education Minister Andrew
Barr for funding a new Catholic preschool over existing community preschools.

The executive director of the Blue Gum Community School, Maureen Hartung,
said Mr Barr had put community preschools last, after funding 15 free hours of
childcare at public preschools and a new Catholic preschool at Gowrie. “It leaves
all the preschools that are non-government and non-Catholic out in the cold,” Ms
Hartung said. "It seems crazy to fund new programs over existing, high-quality
programs."

In its 2008-09 budget, the Federal Government promised that by 2013 all
children in the year before formal schooling would have access to 15 hours a
week of early childhood education, for a minimum of 40 weeks per year.

In September, Mr Barr made a joint announcement with Federal Minister for

Child Care Kate Ellis of 13.2 million in funding to boost the ACT's pre-school
care. Mr Barr said that next year, eight additional public schools would be able to
offer the 15-hour pre-school commitment, with the remainder rolling out from
2011 to 2013.
Ms Hartung said the staged rollout would mean the parents using the community
pre-schools would want to take advantage of the 15 hours of free pre-school,
worth about $120 a week, offered at the public or Catholic schools. "It could
threaten the viability of some services," she said.

"Catholic does not equate with disadvantaged, and non-Catholic certainly doesn't
equate with advantaged". A number of community preschools that operate all-
year round had made representations to Mr Barr, arguing that the funding rollout
was inequitable.

A spokesman for the Minister said to ensure the rollout was equitable, access for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children from low
socioeconomic families was the priority. "To that end, eight more targeted ACT
public schools will provide 15 hours per week universal access to preschool
programs in 2010. The expansion to 15 hours per week in the remaining ACT
public preschool programs is planned for implementation by the end of 2012," the
spokesman said.

The one-off funding for a preschool within the Catholic Education System would
provide a pilot "looking at service integration and support for child care centres
that have children not accessing government funded preschool services".

Note: copyright of the material in this clipping resides with Fairfax Media. Usage
permitted in accordance with the Australian Copyright Act 1968, Section 42: Fair
dealing for purpose of reporting news. Source: The Canberra Times – 13 December 2009