– I felt like I had come home when I started working here, says Merete Hagenberg. She is the educational manager at Storesund kindergarten in Karmøy and clarifies that in this matter she speaks as herself and not on behalf of the kindergarten. Her workplace is one of two kindergartens the municipality proposes to cut because they need to save money. Merete Hagenberg got a job in Storesund kindergarten when the son who went to the kindergarten started school. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Johannessen / news Then 64 children have to change kindergartens. But it is not the first time that the kindergarten has been proposed to be closed. Most recently, Hagenberg was a mother in the kindergarten. – Then we were terrified of what would happen to our children if the kindergarten disappeared, she says. NOK 50 million But the number of children who need nursery places is decreasing. Both in Karmøy and in the rest of the country. Figures from Statistics Norway (SSB) show a steady annual decline in kindergarten children since 2013. Last year, 20,000 fewer children attended kindergarten than in 2013. And according to the population projections from Statistics Norway, a further decline is expected until 2026. In Karmøy, costs in the kindergarten sector have increased by over NOK 50 million in the last three years. They have to adjust the capacity down, but the municipal director does not have the tools he wants because 23 of the kindergartens are private and only 8 are municipal. – Today we only manage a small proportion of the sector, which I think is problematic, says Andersen. Bjørn Andersen is municipal manager for upbringing and culture in Karmøy municipality. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Johannessen / news The municipality can only touch the kindergartens they own and now Storesund kindergarten and Kolnes kindergarten are in danger of being closed down. The town of Kolnes has three kindergartens, but two of them are private. – If we could manage this with equal treatment between private and municipal, we would probably look at the possibility of closing down a private one so that we would have one of each left in Kolnes, says Andersen. Department director in KS, Kristin Holm Jensen. Photo: Håkon Benjaminsen KS believes that the municipalities should have greater opportunity than today to dimension the offer in both municipal and private kindergartens. Department director Kristin Holm Jensen wrote in an e-mail to news that it should be possible to consider where there is the greatest need for places, regardless of whether it is in municipal or private kindergartens. Raudt wants the municipalities to decide more Last winter, the government proposed as part of the new Kindergarten Act that the municipalities should be able to adjust the number of kindergarten places based on need. Regardless of ownership. But the proposal created a great debate and in June, when the parties in the Storting agreed to enter into discussions about a new kindergarten settlement, they sent a letter to the Ministry of Education (external link). There, they asked the ministry, among other things, to work with different models for how the municipality can dimension capacity in the overall kindergarten offer, including a model based on cooperation between the municipality and private kindergartens. Hege Bae Nyholt (Raudt). Photo: Marthe Svendsen But Raudt wants downscaling on the municipality’s terms. – The municipalities must have the opportunity to plan for the kindergarten offer. Today they don’t have that and it gives the commercial kindergartens a right of way, says Hege Bae Nyholt, who is negotiating the kindergarten settlement for Raudt. My cooperation is the solution. In the negotiations, also spokeswoman for childcare policy in Høgre, Kari-Anne Jønnes. – We believe this can be solved through good cooperation. The private kindergartens cannot go with a constant fear that the municipalities will reduce the number of places at them, she says. Kari-Anne Jønnes (Right). – What about those who work or have children in the municipal kindergartens and know that if there are cuts, they are the ones in danger? – I have a great understanding of that. There is a need to make adjustments in the number of kindergarten places in many municipalities in Norway, but our experience, after discussions with many municipalities, is that this can be solved through cooperation, she says. The National Association of Private Childcare Centers, PBL, also believes that collaboration is a good solution. – It is clearly an advantage if these issues can be resolved with even closer and better cooperation between the municipalities and the private kindergartens, says communications director Marius Iversen. KS also wants cooperation. – Together with PBL, we have therefore proposed that the municipalities and the private sector can have a closer and better collaboration on dimensioning than today, for example in the work with the municipality’s social plan, says Kristin Holm Jensen. Plan a torchlight procession While the politicians discuss, the parents in Storesund are trying to save their kindergarten. Kjersti Tho Sjursen has a four-year-old girl who attends kindergarten. On her mother’s lap sits Inger Nathalie, who is scheduled to start teaming with her older sister in the new year. – She already knows the employees and the children here. But if the nursery school is closed, she must first get used to it in this nursery school and then get used to it again in another nursery school. It won’t be fun, says Sjursen. Tine Isberg Kallevik (left), Kjersti Tho Sjursen, Sara Nathalie Sjursen (10 months..) and Irene Hetland think it will be problematic for several parents who do not have a driver’s license to get to a new nursery school if they lose it. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Johannessen / news Parents are starting a signature campaign and will deliver the signatures to the politicians in Karmøy when the matter first goes before the main committee for education and culture on 30 October. Before that, they will go in a torchlight procession. For Merete Hagenberg, it will be the second time she has gone on a torchlight procession to save her kindergarten. – It is quite time-consuming and takes away from our main focus, which is the children. Now this closure hangs over us again and it’s quite tough, she says. Merete Hagenberg hopes the municipality will save the kindergarten. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Johannessen / news Published 18.10.2024, at 05.15 Updated 18.10.2024, at 11.08
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This municipality may be forced to close a quarter of its kindergartens – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
