Parents warn Reykjavik preschool cuts could undermine services

The board of Samleik-R, an association for parents of preschool children in Reykjavik, has raised serious concerns about planned cuts to the city’s preschool budget, according to mbl.is. It is seeking more detailed information about the cuts and what they will involve.

The city’s budget provides for cuts of more than two billion krónur in education, the board said in a statement. Of that amount, cuts worth around 960 million krónur have not yet been specified. “It is not enough to cross out lines in an Excel spreadsheet,” the statement said.

Because much of the funding in the sector is tied to staff costs and contracts, the board said cuts on this scale could affect professional work and services. The budget also plans to reduce new investment in preschools, despite what the board described as an accumulated need for construction and maintenance in Reykjavik.

Samleik-R said it welcomed plans to limit preschool fee increases to 2.5%, but called for no new charges or service reductions through shorter opening hours or further closures. It also urged the city not to cut caretaker positions at preschool buildings. The roles, intended to handle minor repairs and daily building operations, have not yet been introduced, the board said.

The board said preschool managers and staff should be able to focus on educational work rather than building maintenance, and argued that preschool policy required forward-looking investment.