Parents benefit from $20m initiative

PARENTS could save more than $1,000 on preschool fees after a $20 million injection into services by the state government.

Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said a $25 million initiative will also establish a $5 million capital works fund to build more preschools in areas where families struggle to access services.

Across NSW, the funding boost will lead to a preschool fee reduction of up to 26 per cent. In regional NSW, the reduction will be up to 52 per cent.

It comes as Mr Piccoli today releases the long-awaited review of NSW Government Funding of Early Childhood Education conducted by Professor Deborah Brennan of the UNSW Social Policy Research Centre.

Prof Brennan examined how efficiently state and federal funding was being spent on early childhood education in NSW and compared funding arrangements in NSW, Australia, and internationally.

Mr Piccoli will support all of the report's major recommendations and begin immediate consultation with industry on a new funding system to be introduced from 2014.

KU Children's Services, a leading provider of early childhood education and care, said the $25 million initiative means that parents with a four-year-old attending preschool three days a week at its Penrith centre would save $1,055 in fees between Term 2 and the end of this year.

Based on the same criteria, families at its Bulli centre would save $900, $835 at Mereweather, $670 at Westmead, $740 in North Katoomba, and $690 at Heversham.

"These fee reductions will give children of families from low socio-economic circumstances greater access to preschool education," Mr Piccoli said.

Although the funding will be given to services, it must be passed on to families with enrolled children who will be four or five years old on or before 31 July 2013, he added.

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