New funding approach by Education Authority 'threatening to close pre-schools' with 46 asking to meet minister
A Co Antrim nursery school fears that it could be one of many schools forced to close their doors by a new funding policy by the Education Authority.
Critics say the Education Authority (EA) is is placing funding limits on pupil numbers for pre-schools based purely on 2025/26 enrolments – even though for many this was an unusually low enrolment year.
And adding to the pressure, it is claimed EA is now crudely dividing up the number of pupils for next year equally among all pre-schools – even though many have drastically different facilities and overheads.
TUV MLA Timothy Gaston said 46 pre-schools have asked Education Minister Paul Givan for a meeting. The minister declined to offer any comment to the News Letter.
Jess Graham, treasurer for Taylorstown Cross-Community Pre-School in Toomebridge, said that, like others, her school is now being forced to run at a loss.
“I would be happy if the EA just allowed us to take all 19 pupils who applied to come here next year, but it has decided it will only fund 14, based on an unusually low intake this year," she said.
However the normal annual intake is 20, which would allow it to survive financially, she said.
EA responded that there are funded places for all children and that a planned approach is needed to protect all pre-school providers.
However Jess said nobody in EA will listen to her concerns that simply dividing children up equally will threaten many larger providers.
She also complains that statutory pre-schools get a much better deal; EA says they are funded for up to a limit of 26 children.
The remaining children in her area are now being divided up equally among around 10 non-statutory nurseries in a five-mile radius, she said.
However this does not take into account that some of these nurseries have purpose-built properties which have higher overheads and capacities, while others are based in mobile homes or community centres; all are being funded equally for 14 pupils.
“EA says it is trying to protect providers and ensure their continued existence, but in reality their approach is doing exactly the opposite,” she added.
Mr Gaston said many non-statutory pre-schools across NI used financial reserves to survive last year.
“Their future is being put at risk due to the EA policy of pupil allocation number being based on last year's intake,” he said.
“This has created a hamster wheel where if any non-statutory playgroup has a low intake there is no pathway for them to rebuild their numbers back to a sustainable level regardless of their five or 10-year intake average.”
An EA spokesperson said that funded places are available for every child.
“Pre-schools set their own admissions criteria and parents are encouraged to list at least four pre-schools in order of preference, as there is no guarantee their child will be accepted into the first preference,” it said.
“The allocation of places is carefully planned to ensure stable and ongoing provision. An unplanned approach could lead to reductions in the number of providers, with long-term consequences for overall provision.”
There is scope to increase the number of allocated places if demand exceeds availability; however, in north Antrim, alternative places were available within a reasonable distance for all applicants, they added.