The takeover of daycare fees by the Free State of Bavaria during the corona pandemic poses massive problems for Horte. Why this is so and what help is needed.
The announced takeover of daycare fees by the Free State of Bavaria during the corona pandemic is intended to relieve parents. But it also creates problems: three hoarders want to draw attention to their needs with a letter to the city of Würzburg.
The fact that parents do not have to pay any fees if their children cannot use daycare, kindergarten and after-school care during corona-related closures initially seems logical and fair. But the promise made by the Bavarian state government to exempt contributions has considerable financial consequences, especially for Horte. It is up to the institutions to decide whether they want to offer the families the freedom to pay contributions, but if they do so, they have to waive all fees.
The problem: The money that the state wants to pay to the institutions as a replacement is a flat-rate contribution and does not cover the costs. While a flat rate of € 300 per child per month has been announced for crèche children, day care centers are to receive only € 100 per child. This means that the institutions have to forego a considerable part of the parents’ contributions.
“We are running into a massive deficit with our eyesight.”
Simon Kuttenkeuler, managing director of the Elisabethenheim–
Photo: Johannes Kiefer
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“We are running into a massive deficit,” said Simon Kuttenkeuler, Managing Director of the Elisabethenheim, in an interview with this editorial team. The heads of Würzburg’s three largest Catholic after-school care centers – Elisabethenheim, Vinzentinum and the Catholic nursery Grombühl – have therefore addressed the city in a joint letter asking for help: “As a non-profit organization like us hardly As we are not allowed to build up reserves, we do not have sufficient financial means to be able to exempt the parents. In other words, this strain is a threat to our existence, ”is how the three after-school careers sum up the problem.
Since the lump-sum contributions from the state are not sufficient in the crèche and kindergarten area either, cross-financing of day-care centers from these areas is also not possible, the letter continues. In addition, according to Kuttenkeuler, the lump-sum contributions will be available for payment at the end of June at the earliest, according to the Ministry. “But of course we have to pay wages and salaries every month. It’s about liquidity, ”explains the managing director,“ the current situation is killing us a bit. ”
“The ideal solution would be that the city of Würzburg takes over the entire deficit for the after-school care once.”
Petra Lachnit, director of the Grombühl child and youth center–
Photo: Johannes Kiefer
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What are the hopes leaders hoping for from their letter to the city? “Children’s daycare centers, i.e. crèche, kindergarten and after-school care, are municipal duties – the Free State therefore sees the cities and municipalities as obligatory and expects them to compensate for any financial deficits,” explains Kuttenkeuler. “So the city is responsible for the after-school children from the urban area, who make up a large part of the children in our three facilities.” The day-care centers could not bear the loss of funds due to the free contribution, hence the letter to the mayor.
The after-school leaders want one thing from the city: help that is as unbureaucratic as possible. “The ideal solution would be for the city of Würzburg to take on the complete deficit for the after-school care once, which results from the free contribution,” says Petra Lachnit, director of the Grombühl children’s and youth center. Joachim Volpert, head of the Vincentine, also wishes that “the city takes over the difference to what the state government pays.”
How the city has reacted so far
After an initial discussion on the subject between the after-school management and representatives of the city, such a solution does not initially appear in sight. At the request of the editors, the city’s social department said that they would try to support the day care centers, even if the financial situation of the municipalities was tense due to the corona pandemic. The special problem of the after-school care was known from the start. Through the Bavarian City Day they tried to get a cost-covering reimbursement of the parents’ contributions, but without success.
Photo: Johannes Kiefer
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In conversation with the day care management, the first immediate measures to secure the day care liquidity have now been agreed. And: “Further talks will follow as soon as the Free State Guideline on Parental Contribution Relief is in place and the childcare deficit can be precisely quantified.” The background: Even if there is no contribution for April, May and June for the parents who there was no concrete law to use emergency care for their children, or was already announced by the state government at the end of April.
As soon as the law is in place, it can be calculated how high the losses actually are for the individual facilities. In their letter, the day care centers calculated their deficit for the month of April, which ranges from over 7,000 to over 33,000 euros, depending on the size of the facility. In May and June, the day care centers expect a lower deficit due to the gradual return of schoolchildren and daycare children and the expansion of emergency care.
Search for plan B.
Even if the city was initially disappointed in the hope of a commitment to a one-time deficit coverage: the recognition of the problem and the willingness of the city for further discussions rate the after-school management as positive. However, the measures announced by the city to temporarily secure liquidity cannot change their strained financial situation. It remains: the search for plan B.
“It will be financially tight at the end of June at the latest”, Simon Kuttenkeuler from Elisabethenheim sums up; the dynamics of the situation also make any planning difficult. “I have already asked the bank how quickly I would get a bridging loan.”
“We have to remain liquid, I have to continue to be able to pay wages and salaries.”
Joachim Volpert, head of the Vincentine–
Photo: Johannes Kiefer
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Joachim Volpert from the Vinzentinum also faces liquidity problems. In addition to the deficit caused by the exemption from contributions, prepayments for holiday trips at Easter and Pentecost would have to be paid back to the parents, for example, and larger sums had to be invested in the implementation of the hygiene protection regulations: 40 disinfectant dispensers, which cost only a medium five-figure sum, disinfectants , Face mask – “we just need money in the account,” says Volpert. Because: “I still have to be able to pay wages and salaries.” His plan B: “Saving costs at every nook and corner.” Among other things, planned purchases for the groups and the courtyard and a new playground would have to be put on hold.
Photo: Johannes Kiefer
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In Grombühl, your own kitchen is on the brink
Petra Lachnit from the Grombühl day care center also has major financial worries: “As a relatively small institution with a total of 170 children, 55 of whom are in the day care center, you are quickly in need of livelihood,” she says. If there is no help from the city when it comes to exemption from contributions, the institution’s own kitchen must be closed, which employs two housekeepers and a cook, who are financed out of their own pockets. “We would then have to switch to ready-to-eat or frozen food – even though the quality of the food is extremely important to us for the children,” says Lachnit.
All three day care centers are in close contact with the families of their facilities: “Many parents call and say that they have financial problems as a result of Corona,” reports Joachim Volpert. “At the same time, there were already parents who offered that we should continue to debit the contributions.” This could not be shown in the accounts, “but in retrospect as a donation, it was a great thing.”
Hoarding in Würzburg
Heard serve the day care of pupils; the staff consists of state-recognized educators. There are around a dozen hoarding centers in Würzburg. A total of 450 pupils are looked after in the daycare centers of the Elisabethenheim (for 1st to 6th grade students), the Vincentian (1st to 10th grade) and the school-independent Catholic children’s and youth center in Grombühl. The three institutions are the largest Catholic hoarding in Würzburg.
Source: cat
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