By Cameron Weston
HOBSONS Bay City Council has joined 25 councils across Victoria in urging the State Government to immediately hand over $60 million to chronically under-funded kindergartens.
The Don’t Forget About Us campaign launched by Whitehorse City Council and endorsed by the Municipal Association of Victoria, calls for an injection of cash to maintain kindergarten buildings and grounds.
Individual councils and residents are developing local campaigns and directly lobbying members of parliament and Sherryl Garbutt, the Minister for Community Services and Children.
Mayor Carl Marsich called on people to sign a petition that he said would “benefit the early education of Hobsons Bay children”.
“The funds would be used for maintenance, and to improve essential facilities and programs,” he said.
“Some facilities have not been renovated since they were first built.”
Director of community services Peter Hunt said a recent study revealed the average age of the 21 kindergartens in Hobsons Bay was 38 years.
He said it cost between $30,000 and $40,000 annually to keep these buildings operational and up to standard.
“There are some areas where there are gaps in government funding and this is one,” Mr Hunt said.
“Councils are carrying too much of the cost for the provision of this service.
“That’s why this campaign has started. This is something that need to be drawn to the government’s attention.”
A State Government spokeswoman defended the current level of expenditure on kindergarten maintenance, saying they are run as “a partnership between state and local governments and parents, with the State Government funding the programs and councils responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of their buildings”.
She said the State Government had invested “more than $39 million into capital funding” at kindergartens around Victoria in the past year, including a recent one-off $5000 grant for “infrastructure upgrades”.
Eileen Gardner, the administrator at Cooraminta Children’s Centre in Altona Meadows, said that grant had been used for a shade sail and “didn’t go very far” in addressing maintenance issues at the centre.
“It was really rushed through. Just a one-off thing for this year.”
Ms Gardner said the root of the problem was that the Department of Community Services set very high standards for kindergartens, in line with public expectations, but then failed to deliver the funding to make achieving these standards possible.
“The reality is that the centres themselves have to raise the money to keep the buildings and the playgrounds up to scratch.
“There is certainly not enough money coming in to cover the upgrades we need.”
Ms Gardner said Hobsons Bay kindergartens were fortunate because the council offered relatively robust financial support, but this was not the case everywhere.
She said that because Cooraminta was a large centre, used by about 240 families, there was a large pool of people to help out with vital fundraising activities, the only thing that kept most centres running.
She said the centre had raised $24,000 last year, a figure that many smaller centres equally in need would struggle to reach, resulting in reduced services and run down buildings and playgrounds.
“It’s really unfair that parents and other people are expected to put in their own time just to keep the centre running.
“This needs to be done because there are centres out there that are really struggling.”
For more information about the ‘Don’t Forget About Us’ campaign visit www.hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au
