The case in summary: • Brattå’s daycare center on Nøtterøy is closed due to major financial problems, which has triggered criticism of private daycare owners who exploit the system to make money.• Storting politician Grete Wold (SV) criticizes commercial players for putting parents in difficult situations . • The kindergarten agreement from 2003, which today regulates the kindergarten sector, is to be replaced by a new law dealing with the financing and organization of kindergartens.• Hege Bae Nyholt (R), head of the education committee in the Storting, proposes to attach requirements to the subsidies kindergartens receive. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. The doors to Brattås kindergarten in Nøtterøy were closed on Tuesday evening last week. The reason is major financial problems. The status now is that the municipality wants to bankrupt the nursery school because a demand for repayment of subsidies has not been met. Now Storting politician Grete Wold (SV) criticizes what she believes is an example of how some private daycare owners find loopholes to make more money. Grete Wold (SV), parliamentary representative for Vestfold. Photo: Lars Tore Endresen / news – This shows how bad things can go when we allow commercial players to try to maximize profit in this market. They put the parents in an absolutely terrible situation, says Wold. news has repeatedly tried to get an interview with Trygve Bjarkø, who owns Brattås kindergarten. He has been made aware of the content of this case, and he has been sent the questions we want to ask him. Bjarkø writes in an SMS to news that he is prevented from answering for health reasons. This is how private nurseries are financed: The subsidy for private nurseries is calculated on the basis of average expenses in the municipal nurseries in the individual municipality. Private nurseries are entitled to 100 per cent of what the municipal nurseries receive in public funding. The parental payment comes in addition and is a maximum of NOK 2,000 per month. Source: Regjeringen.no Will stop commercial nurseries It is the Kindergarten settlement from 2003 that applies today, but this autumn the Storting will have a law in place to replace this. The aim of the law from 2003 was to get enough kindergarten places. The new law will deal with how the kindergartens are to be financed and organised. Brattås kindergarten has charged the accounts with costs that do not directly apply to kindergarten operations. They have also carried out transactions with the owner and related companies over several years. This is revealed in an inspection report from the Directorate of Education in July 2023. Brattås nursery school in Nøtterøy. Photo: Guro Hatlo / news Background for the closure Already in May, Husbanken petitioned for the forced sale of Brattås kindergarten, but this decision was appealed. The background was three defaulted loans totaling NOK 54,544,957, and that the nursery school should not have paid installments and interest on these since September 2023. In September, the Agder District Court also ordered a forced sale of the property. Owner and general manager Trygve Bjarkø has been in dialogue with the municipality about whether they can buy the property. Færder municipal council decided on 2 October that they do not want to buy the nursery at the sum offered – which they believe would have resulted in a total investment cost of 82 million with legal costs and the need for upgrading. Bjarkø claims he had no other choice but to close. He says he has a duty to act to stop losses for creditors under the Companies Act. The owner says that Tuesday evening was the first opportunity to have a meeting with the union and shop stewards, and that he could therefore not notify parents before. The owner also tells news that over two years ago he told the municipality that he could not run the nursery. He believes they should have found a solution. Parents news has spoken to describe that they have been told that everything will work out. The parents also describe an experience of being used as a means of pressure against the municipality in a political game. Bjarkø does not agree with this. He believes he had no other choice. Erlend Larsen (H) agrees with Wold that some owners make use of the system, but believes it should not destroy those who run a nursery in a good way. Some private kindergartens have made a profit because they have sold property, explains Larsen. He doesn’t think that’s a problem. He thinks it is fair and reasonable to have a return for those who take the risk by starting a small private nursery. – You have to be able to get something back, says Larsen. Erlend Larsen (H) is the parliamentary representative for Vestfold. Photo: Magnus Skatvedt Iversen Impatient for stricter rules, Hege Bae Nyholt (R) heads the education committee at the Storting. She has been a kindergarten teacher herself for nearly two decades. She is impatient to get a new kindergarten law in place. – Although Brattås kindergarten is a crowning example of why we need stricter regulation, it has happened that commercial nurseries close their doors at short notice or spend operating money on other things several times before, says Nyholt. Hege Bae Nyholt (R) The Rødt politician proposes to attach requirements to the subsidies the kindergartens receive. Brattås kindergarten has a loan of NOK 54,544,957. They have not paid interest and installments for over a year. In addition, the Agder Court of Appeal decided that the property had to be forcibly sold. At the same time, the kindergarten continued to receive government subsidies. – It should be possible to withhold grants, Nyholt thinks. The general manager of Brattås kindergarten, Trygve Bjarkø, has spoken to news several times. He believes that he had no other choice but to close the nursery, and says he himself is to blame for the financial situation. Trygve Bjarkø, daily manager at Brattås kindergarten. Photo: Hans Philip Hofgaard / news It should not be possible to run a nursery irresponsibly and for personal gain, Nyholt believes. She also believes that the municipality should have the right of first refusal on kindergartens since they are responsible for the service. Published 10/10/2024, at 07.04 Updated 10.10.2024, at 07.16
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Rødt and SV want it to be impossible to make a profit on kindergarten operations – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
