Childhood education cuts pressure family | Canterbury News | Local News in Canterbury

MOTHER-OF-TWO Michelle Biggs says she and her husband will have to juggle their budget when the Government's $400 million funding cut to early childhood education comes into effect.

Mrs Biggs' two-year-old son Spencer attends Redwood Early Childhood Centre three days a week. The couple pay $4.50 an hour for this service.

But that could soon increase.

A Christchurch survey by the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) has shown that 92.3 per cent of early childhood centres set to lose funding will increase their fees.

Spencer is just one of the 93,000 children nationwide who will be affected by the cuts, which were announced in the May Budget.

Extra funding for centres that have more than 80 per cent fully-qualified staff will be cut in February.

Mrs Biggs, who has a part-time job, and her husband, Brock, who works full-time, say the inevitable rise in fees for most community-based early childhood centres will see some parents struggle - including them.

It was "frightening", but she would rather pay increased fees than see a drop in the quality of care or education her child received. Most parents would do the same, she said.

"This is really going to affect families quite significantly. Any extra is going to have to come from somewhere. Being part-time and having two children, it's always a bit of a juggle.

"I'll probably have to cut back on my shopping," she said.

A decrease in qualified staff or the ratio of teachers to children would be "a real loss for early childhood education," she said.

"I would be more than happy to pay an increase of a dollar per hour, even though it will push the budget, rather than jeopardise the quality of education," Mrs Biggs said.

"I can understand if the centre raised its fees - as hard as it is."

Redwood Early Childhood Centre manager Nadine Bashford, who is also the Christchurch Community Childcare Association chairwoman, said the funding cuts would see the centre lose about $70,000 to $80,000 a year.

The Christchurch survey found only one of the 27 not-for-profit early childhood centres would not lose funding, with the average loss being $43,084 a year.

Ms Bashford said the centre was left with only one of two options - increasing fees or a decrease in quality through cutting staff and increasing teacher-child ratios. She said the centre did not want to compromise on quality and as a result would probably have to increase fees from $4.50 to $5.50.

However, that was still to be decided.

The total amount of funding being lost by the 26 affected community-based centres next year will be more than $1.12 million.