After round of talks

Can the forest kindergarten be saved after all?

The forest kindergarten in Maria Saal cannot keep its head above water without financial support from the municipality or parental contributions - it is threatened with closure. Now there is hope of finding a solution after all.

(Bild: Waldkindergarten.com)

After the uproar surrounding the closure of the forest kindergarten in Maria Saal, a round of talks revealed several possibilities for possibly saving the kindergarten after all.

There is still a lot of homework to be done, but hope dies last! As reported, the popular forest kindergarten in Maria Saal has its back to the wall financially due to the new Child Education and Care Act (KBBG), as parents are not allowed to pay more than 109 euros for additional services. With the changeover to the KBBG, the facility will receive a third more state funding, but will lose funding from the municipality and parents.

"Constructive deadline"
The parents do not want to accept this and fought to preserve the private kindergarten, only recently at a meeting with education officer Daniel Fellner: "It was a constructive discussion," agree the state councillor and parents' spokesperson Christian Pogatschnig.

Several options were discussed that could prevent the closure of the Waldkindergarten: "The municipality will provide figures on the demand for kindergarten places in the coming years," explains Fellner. If, despite the kindergarten expansion, places are needed by 2.5 million euros, the municipality could bill the financial support as a compulsory expense and not as a voluntary service - as this would fall under the statutory mandate: "A merger with other smaller childcare facilities would also be conceivable," says Fellner.

Raising maximum limits?
In the meantime, working groups of experts are also working on improvements: "Parents are of course allowed to pay for food, craft materials and additional staff - but the maximum limits for this are set out in the Additional Services Ordinance. We will see whether these limits should be raised or not," says Fellner and wants to wait for the experts' opinions.