Yahoo Finance Save up to $4,000: New plan to cut preschool bills
The NSW government has doubled down on its commitment to families with young children, with a plan to cut preschool bills by thousands.
Following the state government’s budget commitments yesterday to shave $3,900 a year off childcare costs for NSW families, Premier Dominic Perrottet has unveiled funding for public and private preschool providers so they can charge lower fees.
This means parents with children in private long day care will now be included in state childcare subsidies, with some NSW families eligible for up to $2,000 a year in fee relief.
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Parents with children in state-government-funded community and mobile preschools will also be eligible for fee relief of up to $4,000 a year.
The fee relief will be available for families with children aged three, four and five years old attending community or mobile preschools, and children aged four and five attending preschool with a private provider.
The equivalent of five days a fortnight of affordable preschool fee relief will be available for all children in Department of Education preschools.
The government already offered some fee relief for families with children in public preschool, via the Start Strong Free Pre-school Program.
The new funding for preschools will start on January 1 2023.
The state government will spend $1.4 billion over the next four years to assist families with early childhood education, which will be in addition to the $5 billion announced yesterday to make child care more affordable.
“A significant body of research shows that children who participate in quality preschool programs have improved lifelong educational, social and economic outcomes,” Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell said.
Mitchell said families using community and mobile preschools were not eligible for the Child Care Subsidy, which is offered by the Federal Government based on household income.
Treasurer Matt Kean said investing in child care yielded massive economic benefits by allowing more women to participate in the workforce.
"Every $1 invested in early childhood education delivers a $2 boost to the NSW economy – it is a great investment for any Treasurer,” Kean said.
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