Amendment to pre-school law aims to reduce budget debt

Changes to state subsidies for six-year-olds currently enrolled in pre-school programs, aimed at reducing government overspending in state-sponsored programs, will go into effect on January 1, 2017, according to a report in Biznes Onet on Thursday.  Beginning in the new year, according to the amendment to the Law on Local Government Revenue, minimized fees of PLN 1 per hour charged to parents will apply only to children aged between three and five. Different fees will apply for six- year-olds, the report indicated, because municipal governments will not receive the subsidy for those children. Instead, the amount of the subsidy will depend on which type of institution the six-year-old attends, be it a kindergarten or a pre-school. Changes to the subsidy, the report said, will result in the reduction of the maximum limit spending from the state budget for financing the tasks of municipalities in the area of ​​pre-school education. In 2017, the budget currently calls for PLN 1.73 billion to be spent on state pre-schools. After the entry into force of the amendments, this amount will be PLN 1.37 billion.