Forest Hill Preschool director Jenny Osborne last week said funding – allocated for low-income and Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander families – would benefit some bigger “city” facilities but not those in rural areas. 

As the financial support is determined by the previous years’ enrollment numbers, Ms Osborne said the funding for her facility would be cut in half.

She said the Start Smart incentive was used to encourage parents to enroll their child for 15 hours every week – 600 hours every year which took away the ability for families to choose hours that best suited individual schedules. 

“Their lifestyle may not suit coming in to town twice a week,” she said. “I understand the government’s philosophy in getting children ready for school but we have to cater for individual families’ needs too.”

A spokesperson from the Department of Education said it had taken steps to provide additional support to preschools in rural areas. 

They said each preschool would continue to set its own fees and hours of operation under the new initiative and each service could determine how best to provide the 600 hours – based community need.

They said ​an extra $12 million had been allocated to community preschools in regional and remote areas of NSW between January and June this year.

“In the Wagga electorate, 80 per cent of preschools will receive funding increases ranging from three per cent to 151 per cent under Start Strong in this time,” The spokesperson said. “Financial support will continue to be provided for children who do not attend for 600 hours.”

They said additional investment in the form of fee reductions for eligible children would increase accessibility and participation – providing families with greater choice to select the times and services which best meet their requirements.

They said the Service Safety Net supported eligible services by guaranteeing a minimum funding amount of $132,000 per year.

“Regional, rural and remote preschools will benefit from a new Service Safety Net designed to help them keep their doors open even when enrolments fluctuate,” they said.

“These changes will support preschools serving small communities.”