A Thurgoona mum has made an impassioned plea to the NSW Minister for Early Childhood Education to fix the community preschool funding model.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
![BEST START: Cathy Zemaitis, with her children Alannah, 6, Lachlan, 3, and Georgia, 1, wants a better community preschool funding model in NSW. Picture: ELENOR TEDENBORG BEST START: Cathy Zemaitis, with her children Alannah, 6, Lachlan, 3, and Georgia, 1, wants a better community preschool funding model in NSW. Picture: ELENOR TEDENBORG](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/e8uBJxuTc2fGAziDArmhm5/36237304-ec2b-4c01-8cee-1bb2623d7c94.jpg/r0_178_3442_5191_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Cathy Zemaitis, a primary school teacher, said the present funding model was flawed, discriminatory and “plain wrong”.
Mrs Zemaitis said some community preschools in NSW charged as little as $8 a day while others charged more than $70 a day due to the state’s grading system.
“As the Minister for Early Childhood Education, you should be ashamed of the discriminatory inequality of the current funding system,” she wrote in a letter to Leslie Williams.
“You need to do something to change this now!”
Mrs Zemaitis said every child should have access to two years of preschool before they started school.
“As a mother, I read to my children, take them to playgroups and foster social interaction with their peers, however I still cannot provide experiences which promote independence, social skill development and resilience the way the three-year-old preschool program can,” she said.
Mrs Zemaitis said her eldest child Alannah, 6, had a smooth transition to school after she went to West Albury Preschool for two years and her son, Lachlan, began preschool when he turned three in February.
She said Lachlan had an oral motor skill delay, which was not severe enough for the preschool to get funding, but it had delayed his speech and his ability to chew food without gagging.
“Preschool has been the best environment for Lachlan; his language, confidence and independence have all developed greatly,” she said.
“Others may argue that I could have put Lachlan into long day care as an alternative to preschool, but to me there really is no comparison between preschool and long day care.”
Lachlan is an unfunded three-year-old student because his birthday doesn’t fall after July 31, meaning his preschool will be penalised.
Mrs Zemaitis, who taught kindergarten in western Sydney, understood the value of a preschool education.
“I know first-hand that students who arrive in kindergarten after attending a quality preschool program academically and socially outperform students who have not had the same access to quality preschool learning programs,” she said.
“If the NSW government is really serious about raising its NAPLAN results and improving student learning, it begins with two years of quality preschool education.
“Preschool teachers can identify students who require early intervention … before they arrive at school.”