Education Minister passes the buck on fair pay for community preschool educators
Felicity Wilson MP
Shadow Minister for Early Education
The NSW Minister for Education, Prue Car, refused to commit to supporting higher wages for community preschool educators in today’s Budget Estimates hearing.
Instead, Minister Car passed the buck to parent-run community services, claiming that “the community preschools actually, many of them, I am sorry to admit this, have the capacity to pay their teachers...”, stating that “we urge them to pay their workers fairly.”
Shadow Minister for Early Education, Felicity Wilson, said the comments from the Minister ignore the Fair Work Commission’s decision, which explicitly stated that “outside of government funding, NSW community preschools can only generate revenue through fees to families.”
“Community preschools strive to be affordable for families and are already operating on incredibly tight budgets. Suggesting they simply absorb the cost of higher wages will either lead to higher costs for families or force community preschools to close,” Ms Wilson said.
“Even in the face of the overwhelming findings of the Fair Work Commission that “NSW preschools are reliant on NSW Government funding for the public provision of preschool services” the Minns Labor Government refuse to ensure that community preschool’s in NSW remains affordable for families.”
Minister Car instead verballed the sector, claiming that many of them “...have the capacity to pay their teachers...”, a claim already rejected by evidence to the Fair Work Commission which demonstrated that these reserves (not profits) are required to ensure solvency and are “a one-off pool of resources and are not appropriate sources to fund ongoing wages liabilities into perpetuity.”
The community preschool sector has directly contradicted these claims by Minister Car, with Drummoyne Community Preschool Centre Director Helen Millar saying that “decisions are being made without our voices being heard and we’re really concerned that funding has been reduced for us because that means the onus has to be put on families to have to pay for that”.
“Yes, we want to fight for fair wages, we deserve fair wages, every educator here puts in a lot more hours than what they’re paid for but it's no good fighting for fair wages if community based preschools are becoming a dying breed - we have to fight for them first,” Ms Millar said.
Ms Wilson said that the NSW Liberals and Nationals are focused on ensuring that community preschools across NSW receive the support they need to ensure families have access to quality, safe, affordable education that meets their needs.
“We support giving kids the best start in life. As Liberals and Nationals, we fundamentally support choice, including early education. Community preschools are a vital part of delivering that choice to families.”
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