THE federal government has refuted claims that it will cut $440 million from four-year-old kindergarten services.
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The state government and the Municipal Association of Victoria said the federal government’s 2018-19 Budget showed that it had not committed funding beyond December 2019 for the five hours of kinder each week.
Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said has said the government had locked in funding for preschool for the rest of 2018, as well as 2019.
Mr Birmingham said it gave the government time to work through “current serious attendance issues” which meant about 30 per cent of children did not attended the full 15 hours per week.
“We’re determined to make sure that just as we’ve done before in continuing and renewing preschool agreements with the states and territories on four separate occasions, we will work with them to make sure that in future agreements they address the serious issues around attendance in preschool,” he said.
