Finsing — it is now official: the cooperation agreement for the implementation and financing of the inter-municipal holiday childcare program has been signed. For this purpose, the heads of nine municipalities — Finsing, Moosinning, Neuching, Ottenhofen, Wörth, Walpertskirchen, Buch am Buchrain, Pastetten, and Forstern — gathered at the Finsing town hall together with representatives of the Poing-based organization Kinderland Plus. The host, Max Kressirer, expressed satisfaction, calling the decision truly excellent.
The reason was a change in the law on the promotion of after-school groups. According to the new norms, parents have received the right to childcare during the holiday period as well. In the specified municipalities, the new agreement will enter into force starting from the upcoming autumn holidays.
Kinderland Plus to manage logistics and leisure
The Kinderland Plus organization takes over childcare issues, application registration, calculations, and leisure planning. To ensure a wide program of excursions (for example, to the Poing Wildlife Park or the cinema), the cooperation partners chose Ottenhofen as the venue. The meeting participants agreed that the presence of an S-Bahn station there and suitable premises for after-school groups at the elementary school provides an advantage over ordinary classrooms.
Each cooperation partner pays 336 euros per holiday week as financial compensation for cleaning, electricity, water, and heating costs of the school. Parents pay 160 euros per week to enroll their child. If fewer than 20 children are registered, the municipalities are obliged to jointly cover the resulting deficit in equal shares.
The heads of the municipalities agreed with each other that if criticism arises from parents regarding the cost, which may turn out to be higher than previous childcare offers, it is necessary to take a unified position in support of the agreement. In their opinion, the political leadership should withstand this.
Future outlook and reporting
The organization directors and mayors noted that at the moment it is difficult to predict the final number of applications for the first launch of the program. The head of Ottenhofen, Nicole Schley, urged Kinderland Plus to publish the program of events as quickly as possible. This could stimulate a larger number of people to submit applications.
Managing directors of Kinderland Plus Eva Harmat and Herbert Matzner praised the municipalities for the pleasant, pragmatic, and fast solution, adding that in Kirchheim they had a completely different experience. Answering questions, they clarified that upon completion of the first year of trial operation, they will provide an interim report so that the municipalities can receive a full understanding of the results.
According to Matzner, they do not expect to reach the upper limit of capacity. In the situation with kindergartens, we are more concerned that the number of children is decreasing, the leader emphasized. In the worst case, this could lead to the closure of entire institutions.
Source: dpa
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