Award winning montessori pre-school faces closure due to inadequate government funding

An award-winning montessori school in Ballymacarbry will be forced to close in June due to financial pressures its owners are blaming on a new funding model for their sector introduced by the Government this year. 

Clodagh Burke and Miriam Hickey, owners of Ballymacarbry Montessori, made the difficult decision last week to announce they will be closing the pre-school at the end of this academic year after 13 years of service.  

The montessori, based at  Ballymacarbry Community Centre, has 23 pre-school students and its closure will be a huge blow to families of young children in the village and its surrounding hinterland. 

Twenty-five families had children booked into the playschool for the 2023/2024 academic year. Eleven of the children were due to start their second pre-school year there next September. 

Clodagh Burke says it has been a very, very difficult decision for her and Miriam and she predicts  they will be one of many smaller pre-schools forced out of business over the coming year because of the new “Core Funding” model for the Early Childhood Care & Education Scheme (ECCE) introduced by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration & Youth  and the  failure to increase the ECCE capitation fee.  

She explained that small pre-schools like theirs have specifically lost out under the new funding model.  It means the capitation fee they receive per child amounts to just €4.60 an hour before costs like wages and insurance are taken out. 

She says the new funding model only benefits and suits larger childcare businesses  providing an all-day care service. But the type of three hour pre-school they run is what families in rural areas like  Ballymacarbry want. It is like a “home away from home” for their young children. 

Clodagh and Miriam have been inundated with messages of support and sadness at their impending closure since they told parents on Tuesday, November 29 that they will be closing at the end of the pre-school year next June. 

“I have heard the word ‘devastated’ so many times,” recounts Clodagh. “Everywhere I go people are stopping me saying we sent our own children to your play school, and what you have done has been such a phenomenal legacy for the village.” 

The closure of Ballymacarbry Montessori will indeed be keenly felt.  The pre-school, founded in 2010, has received several awards including a Healthy Ireland Smart Start Award for its working in promoting healthy living among its students and two An Taisce Green School flags for recycling and energy projects its students have completed. It’s one of only a few pre-schools in the country to earn Green Flag awards under a pilot scheme.  

Clodagh also points out that they do a lot of early intervention work with children with special needs who attend the montessori.

“It’s just an awful shame the Government doesn’t understand the funding (model) is causing this. We employ one staff member, Julia Walton, so the closure of our pre-school means the loss of three people with massive experience and knowledge. That is the sad thing.” 

Clodagh points out Ballymacarbry Community Centre may be able to find another early childhood educator to open up a new pre-school at the centre but she fears any new provider will face the same financial problems they are dealing with. 

The Federation of Early Childhood Providers, which represents Independent early childhood education providers like Ballymacarbry Montessori, has been in dispute with the Department of Children over the inadequate level of funding for the ECCE scheme and what it sees as “serious deficiencies” in the Department’s approach to the sector.  

Deficiencies the FECP cites include the Department’s lack of recognition of the administrative overload for providing the myriad of public schemes, the “fee freeze” on current and future provision, the chaotic impact of not piloting the new Core Funding scheme and the refusal to increase the ECCE capitation.

The Federation says the new core funding model for the sector, introduced by Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman, has seen smaller providers lose higher capitation and support payments, leaving their ECCE services completely unviable. 

It has called for the ECCE capitation grant for these pre-school providers to be increased from €69 per child, per week to €76 per child per week. The €69 capitation fee is in place since 2018 and the FECP says it no longer meets the increased costs associated with running a quality service. 

Hundreds of childcare providers and pre-schools around the country closed for a day on November 11 in protest at the funding deficiencies in their sector. A second day of closures, scheduled for November 25, was cancelled after the FECP and Minister O’Gorman agreed to meet for talks. Further protest action is expected in the new year.

The Department of Children's Response

The Department of Children issued a statement outlining that Minister Roderick O'Gorman has proposed an independent review to be carried out in response to the concerns raised.

"The Department's position, based on the evidence available, remains that funding available through the various schemes is sufficient to meet the needs of all services, including small, sessional services," said the statement. 

“However, in recognition of the points raised and the concerns expressed, the Minister proposed that an independent review of the finances of these services be commissioned by his Department.

“In order for the results of the review to be meaningful in the short term, the Minister proposed that an independent consultant be procured, and tasked with completing this work in Quarter 1 2023.

“Core Funding of €259m is a very significant new injection of funding into the sector and there is an 11% increase of €28m in the budget for year two of the scheme (September 2023-August 2024)," the statement continued. 

“Approximately €4m of the €28m will be used to remove the experience requirement on both graduate premiums under Core Funding, the remaining €24m will be used for further developments and enhancements to the scheme, the precise allocation of which will be determined by evidence and analysis emerging from year one of the operation of the scheme and must be evidence based.

“In this context, the independent review of a sample of small, sessional services could form a basis on which any targeted measures, if required, can be taken. The Minister is clear that, in order for any allocation of taxpayer funding to take place, evidence must be gathered to support it.”

The Department pointed out that services that are experiencing difficulty and would like support are encouraged to contact their City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) to access case management supports.

“Services can be assisted on an individual basis through this route and it also allows for trends and themes across the country to be identified that can inform a more systematic response if necessary.”

The Department maintained the Government is investing significantly in the early learning and childcare sector through its “ambitious” new funding model Together for Better launched in September.

“Budget 2023 allocates €1.025 billion to early learning and childcare – a clear demonstration from Government of the value of the sector. Together for Better aims to transform the sector and the Minister is committed to working with Partner Services delivering early learning and childcare for the public good,” the Department added.

Ballymacarbry Montessori's Responds

Clodagh Burke said the fact the Department of Children is instigating a review into the position of smaller services clearly shows there is an issue.

“They have taken our capitation fee back to €69 per week from last year when it was €80.25 per child.

“They gave us other funding, then this core funding which is very little for small ECCE services; certainly not enough to cover  rising wage costs, insurance and rent.”

The bottom line was that their montessori pre-school was no longer viable as a business.