Preschool Reform Agreement

Question

1. Budget Paper No. 3 shows the Preschool Reform Agreement is funded at $532.4 million in 2025-26, $553.3 million in 2026-27, and $387.6 million in 2027-28 - with no funding allocated from 2028-29 onwards. Can the department confirm when negotiations on a successor agreement are expected to commence? 2. Can the department explain what drives the increase from $532.4 million in 2025-26 to $553.3 million in 2026-27? Is this indexation, expanded participation targets, or something else? And what accounts for the significant reduction to $387.6 million in 2027-28 - does that reflect a mid-year expiry of the agreement? 3. Australia's birth rate has been declining. The PRA funding is increasing year on year. Has the department modelled long-term preschool demand against projected child population figures? Does the funding trajectory reflect increasing participation rates, wage indexation, or an expansion of the program's scope? 4. NSW receives $419 million over the three funded years - the largest share. Is PRA funding allocated on a per-child basis, and are any jurisdictions currently at risk of not meeting the participation and outcomes targets that the funding is conditional on? 5. Given the documented ECEC workforce shortage, is the department confident the workforce exists to deliver on current PRA commitments? Does PRA workforce modelling account for the contribution of skilled migrants and temporary visa holders to the educator pipeline?

Answer

Please see the attached PDF.

Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• SQ26-000355.pdf (opens in a new tab)