SPD Saxony plans to improve childcare despite declining child numbers

The Saxon SPD wants to use declining child numbers to improve childcare for girls and boys. In addition, parents and local authorities are to be relieved financially. "There will be no cuts on the backs of children and nursery teachers with the SPD," promises Petra Köpping, the SPD's lead candidate in the Saxon state elections and Minister of Social Affairs in the Free State: "One thing is clear to us: local nurseries must remain, and staff must be retained even in times of declining child numbers. We are committed to more education for children, lower fees for parents and further relief for local authorities."

"Over the next ten years, the number of children in daycare will fall by around 15 percent. What is initially not good news is actually a great opportunity: the falling number of children will gradually release up to 150 million euros in previously required funds," explained Köpping. "Unfortunately, some political cost-cutters only see one thing in this: saving money. The consequences would be daycare closures and staff cuts." However, the SPD believes that making savings in this area is completely the wrong approach. "That's why we want a moratorium on daycare centers before the state elections in order to stop potential daycare center closures." A new state parliament will be elected in Saxony on September 1.

SPD action plan

The SPD presented an action plan for this. According to this, the moratorium is to apply from August. One year later, the first steps towards improving staffing ratios in crèches, kindergartens and after-school care centers are to be taken and a contribution cap for the facilities is to come into effect. After-school care is to be free from August 2026, followed two years later by a free pre-school year in kindergarten. The abolition of all contributions and new staffing ratios are set as the target for 2034: one teacher for three children in the crèche, 1 to 7.5 in kindergarten and 1 to 12 in after-school care.

The Education and Science Union (GEW) welcomed the initiative. "We are delighted that our proposal for a moratorium on nurseries has been taken up by state politicians. We demand that the state funds continue to be paid to daycare providers at the same level until the staffing ratio is improved," said GEW head Burkhard Naumann. The SPD's action plan now contains concrete proposals. "Without these, we will lose the staff we need to improve the staffing ratio."

Minister of Education Christian Piwarz also in favor of retaining staff

Currently, the staffing ratio for working with children in Saxony is 1 to 5 (crèche), 1 to 12 (kindergarten) and 0.9 to 20 (after-school care). Staff who become available due to falling birth rates are to be retained in the facilities. Minister of Education Christian Piwarz (CDU) had already spoken out in favor of keeping the staff in the daycare centers: "If we want to further strengthen the quality of education in kindergarten and after-school care, we should stick to the staffing table in the daycare centers and use the decline in the number of children as a demographic return. This will directly benefit our children, as it enables more individualized support," he explained recently.