Early childhood education: Bundestag passes law on starting opportunities for daycare centers

On Thursday, the Bundestag passed the starting opportunity program for daycare centers. Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) presented the corresponding draft law. The program plans to provide greater support for daycare centers in areas with low socioeconomic status. The Greens and the Left rejected the coalition's draft and submitted their own proposals. The debate in the Bundestag primarily revolved around the responsibilities of the federal or state governments and inadequate funding.

The StartChances program includes a language level and development survey of all 4-year-old daycare children. Motor, social-emotional skills as well as mathematical and linguistic skills should be recorded. According to Michael Hose (CDU), it's about having a pen in your hand, but also about self-regulation and being able to deal with anger. “If you can’t control yourself, you can’t learn,” said Hose.

Kindergartens should be strengthened with additional specialists, smaller groups and reliable specialist advice. Where more support is needed, more funding must be provided, said Schmidt (SPD). However, it is important not to school the daycare center and not to stigmatize children. The Greens and the Left criticized the insufficient financing for the planned projects. Reference was made several times to the fuel discount, for which there was obviously money.

According to current plans, the federal government wants to support the states with a total of around 9.25 billion euros in the period from 2027 to 2034, with the federal government's annual share gradually decreasing. The Greens are demanding 3 billion euros every year, permanently without a time limit. “If you permanently order quality, you have to pay for it permanently,” said Anja Reinalter from the Greens. Heidi Reichinnek from the Left also criticized the financial planning.

It was also discussed whether assessing the children's developmental status was problematic. "Can the state know whether a 4-year-old child speaks German well? Yes, it even has to know," said CDU politician Hose. This is the only way this child can be helped in a targeted manner. Reichinnek sees it differently: “You want to measure and categorize children.” The proposed bill would begin to classify children into schemas even earlier.

Reichinnek also called for the recommendations of experts and specialists to be taken into account. “No educator needs a language proficiency survey that means even more bureaucracy, uses up even more resources and only shows the specialists what they already know,” she said. Sebastian Maack from the AfD made racist and anti-queer comments. He attributed the current state of education policy to “left-wing school reforms”.

The Saxon Minister of Education Conrad Clemens (CDU) spoke on behalf of the Federal Council. Clemens supported the starting opportunities program, but also criticized the lack of funding. The Federal Council will call the Mediation Committee and not agree to this law, said Clemens. A mediation committee will be appointed if the Bundestag and Bundesrat cannot reach an agreement. He then looks for a compromise solution.