In the German education crisis, daycare centers are coming into focus. Federal Education Minister Karin Priens (CDU) is scheduled to pass the “Starting Opportunities and Quality Development Act” in the Bundestag on Thursday. It provides for binding nationwide surveys of the language and development status of four-year-olds and funding if deficits are identified. This doesn't go far enough for the Greens. They demand: All children in Germany should complete a mandatory final year of daycare before starting school. The Bundestag faction demands that this “ready-to-go year” must be free of contributions. The federal government should start discussions with the states about implementation and financing.
The Greens' black-red daycare offensive also falls short in financial terms. The federal government's law provides for federal funds for the additional tasks, which are to flow to the states through a changed sales tax distribution. However, the participation is not intended to be permanent: 1.493 billion euros are planned annually in 2027 and 2028, 1.243 billion euros in 2029 and 993 million euros annually from 2030 to 2034. The Greens are calling for a much larger financial commitment - namely an open-ended one: the federal government should permanently provide three billion euros per year for a "daycare quality pact" with the states. In return, uniform nationwide quality standards should be anchored in law.
Michael Hose (CDU), family politician in the Union parliamentary group, declares the planned law to be sufficient: “Mandatory tests on language, self-regulation and motor skills for four-year-olds are the basis for targeted support and better educational opportunities,” as he tells WELT. "With the law, the kindergarten will finally become an educational institution. We don't need a daycare requirement for everyone. The vast majority of children go to kindergarten anyway. What's crucial is that we find the children who need support and that they get this support. That's exactly what the law does."
As far as financing is concerned, Hose says: "The states decide on the exemption from contributions. When it comes to money, the Greens should remember that under their family minister (Lisa Paus, editor) the federal funds were generally only available for two years. We are changing that with our law and creating financial stability with a term until 2034."
The coalition partner SPD also highlights Prien's law as an important step. "We are strengthening the quality of early childhood education, supporting children in a targeted manner and providing greater support to institutions in socially disadvantaged areas. In this way, the federal government is helping to ensure that all children benefit from early education and are given fair starting opportunities," says education and family policy spokeswoman Jasmina Hostert.
The Social Democrat also criticizes the Greens: "The SPD is fundamentally in favor of free daycare centers and wherever we are involved in the state government, daycare fees have been abolished. How little serious the Greens are about free fees and a mandatory last year of daycare can be seen in Baden-Württemberg. They have moved away from both topics. Maybe they should do their homework here first." Hostert says: “In principle” she would welcome a compulsory final year of daycare. "But that has high legal hurdles. And for that we first need enough daycare places, enough skilled workers and reliably high quality."
Left parliamentary group leader Heidi Reichinnek, who is also a child and youth policy spokesperson, is sharply critical of the education minister: "The daycare centers are on the verge of collapse, and Minister Prien is standing by and is cutting federal funding for early childhood education with her new law. How a federal government can push through such a future-hostile policy is unbelievable," Reichinnek tells WELT.
Financially, Reichinnek indicates approval of the Greens' project: "The federal government must finally become more involved in financing the daycare system. This includes an increase in the funding in this law as well as an additional investment program for new construction and renovation." In the education sector, we must "finally move away from a ban on cooperation and towards a requirement for cooperation. The federal government has the responsibility to create equal living conditions, but it leaves the states and, above all, the municipalities alone."
With regard to the compulsory year demanded by the Greens, the Left Party leader says: "The fact that daycare centers are generally free of contributions, not just for individual years, is just as important as free, high-quality lunch for all children. However, before you distract yourself again with debates about compulsory years, you should first take care of the lack of places and staffing."
The AfD in the Bundestag “decisively” rejects the daycare year called for by the Greens, as its family politician Martin Reichardt tells WELT. "Parents must be able to decide for themselves how they want to work and raise children. This includes needs-based, high-quality care options as well as financial recognition of family education and care services." He refers to the “care salary up to the child’s third birthday” called for by the AfD, which is intended to support parents who look after their small children themselves. “Care from grandparents should also be encouraged.”
With regard to early childhood language support, Reichardt says: "In the interest of all children, binding requirements for German language skills must be met when they start school in order to enable a successful start to school. This includes early assessment of language proficiency and targeted support if necessary." Daycare centers must remain “places of age-appropriate, politically and ideologically neutral upbringing and education, free from political-ideological indoctrination.”
The AfD MP rejects the permanent extension of federal funds called for by the Greens: The "proposed billions" are "completely unrealistic. Corresponding financing would only be realistic if the AfD demands for an end to the so-called energy transition policy, an end to aid to Ukraine and an immediate stop to uncontrolled mass immigration to Germany were implemented."
