Erfurt (dpa/th) – According to the will of several parliamentary groups in the Thuringian state parliament, childminders should receive more money. “We need better remuneration in Thuringia, we agree on that,” said Thuringia’s Education Minister Helmut Holter (Die Linke) on Thursday in the state parliament in Erfurt. A draft law by the CDU parliamentary group was discussed, which provides for a significant increase in flat rates in child day care.
According to this, the reimbursement of material costs per child and month for all-day care should increase from currently around 170 euros to around 300 euros. The lump sum is paid by the providers of child and youth welfare, i.e. by the districts and urban districts. Even if a child is looked after for less than eight hours, there should be more money. The draft provides for a flat rate of around EUR 240 per month for care of at least six hours, EUR 210 for at least four hours and EUR 2.12 per hour for additional child day care. The draft was discussed in the first reading and unanimously referred to the Education Committee. It is unclear whether he will be adopted. Until then, it can still be changed.
Holter criticized the draft that it was unclear how the amounts listed there came about. He also pointed out that it is a municipal task to set the flat rates and subsidy rates. “Many municipalities have not understood these rates as minimum rates, but as an upper limit,” said Holter. Therefore, the country must intervene. For the childminders, this has become an existential question.
The SPD education politician Thomas Hartung called the CDU draft law a “sensible addition” to the proposals from Red-Red-Green to change the kindergarten law. Hartung and the Green education politician Astrid Rothe-Beinlich pointed out that the previously applicable flat rates have not been changed since 2017 and are based on calculations from 2015. The Left Group criticized the draft, but education politician Daniel Reinhardt admitted that childminders and fathers received too little money. In Gera, a childminder earns around 800 euros on average. “That’s far, far too little and we have to do it,” said Reinhardt.
