Treasury's advice to government on early childhood education

Treasury's advice to the government as it prepared its 2010 budget was that the government needs to shift the balance "between public and private funding to better reflect public and private benefits", which it then pointed out "involves shifting costs from government to users in the ECE and tertiary sectors."

Treasury views ECE as more of a private than public good - that it is more beneficial to the child than to society as a whole. Quality ECE is beneficial to children AND their families and whanau - there is considerable research evidence to back that up. We also know that quality ECE makes a significant difference in the long term, which is also in the public interest.

For every $1 spent in quality early childhood education, $17 is saved in the long term. Children are more likely to be successful at school and stay longer, have better employment prospects and make a positive contribution as a citizen. Where is this advice to government?

Treasury proposed that government reduce its spending in ECE and shift the costs to "the users" - parents. The government has taken this advice and expects ECE services will respond by not only increasing fees, but also by reducing the number of qualified teachers, changing what they offer, such as meals and excursions, and changing hours of operation. What is it about this mix of responses that the government believes will increase participation in quality ECE?

You can read the Treasury papers here:

http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/informationreleases/budget/2010/pdfs/b10-t2009-2489.pdf

http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/informationreleases/budget/2010/otherpapers