The following Media Release is on council’s website –
Council made a preliminary decision on Tuesday night to close its three small Early Learning Centres in Caulfield, Carnegie and Murrumbeena.
Statement from Glen Eira Mayor Cr Jim Magee: Preliminary decision on the future of Council’s three early learning centres
We are now consulting directly with impacted families, staff, and the community before making a final decision by the end of the year.
We recognise this will be a challenging time for staff and families and are here to support them.
Council’s three Early Learning Centres were established at a time when opportunities for families to access childcare services were limited. In the decades since, a radical change in government funding and policy has led to a boom in the childcare market and slowed demand for Council’s centres.
The number of childcare places in Glen Eira has doubled since 2010, and increased from 3,966 places to 5,731 places since 2019, an increase of 44 per cent. Nine further non-Council centres now in the planning phase will offer a further 919 places.
A service review found we provide quality care and have excellent educators, however our older centres no longer meet contemporary building and service standards that modern childcare centres provide.
Our centres are expected to operate at a loss of at least $570,000 each year. Amid increasing costs and economic uncertainty, it is getting harder for councils to run services and we need to make responsible choices and provide value to all the community.
The municipality has a vibrant childcare market that provides choice, competition and capacity. We have confidence that the supply of childcare places will meet current and future demand. Our centres now account for just two per cent of the childcare places available across the municipality.
If Council decides to close the centres, the final day of operation is likely to be Thursday 21 December 2023. We will help families find alternative care that best suits their individual needs and help staff find a new role through redeployment to another Council role or career support.
To learn more about the Council preliminary decision and provide feedback, visit www.haveyoursaygleneira.com.au/childcare.
Media contact: Alex Leamy on 0409 086 361
PS: The Age is also running a story on this issue. See: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/glen-eira-council-to-close-three-childcare-centres-before-christmas-20231005-p5e9yc.html
Glen Eira Debates 
October 5, 2023 at 11:28 AM
This is very sad. Council is slowly divesting themselves of everything they can. First came some aged care, home support, and now child care. Ratepayers have subsidised these services for years and what needs to be asked and ascertained is whether the community as a whole wants to continue subsidising residents. This should be a whole municipality decision and not left to those who are currently using the service, or the minority of people who actually bother to look at the website. Couldn’t costs be reduced in other areas is a question that screams out. Another is what will happen to these properties? Sold off to developers? The vast majority of residents comprises of families with children. What do they want? How much extra will it cost to go private for these families? There’s already media focus on the cost of child care and how it is impacting on the family budget. This move only makes it worse and for $500,000 per year. That is a pittance in the big scheme of things and the money that comes into council.
October 5, 2023 at 7:17 PM
Council could make up this $570,000 by laying 2 or 3% less concrete per year. This would also help with flooding, urban heat island effect & biodiversity. Glen Eira planners are in a rut of out-dated thinking. The world has moved on. GE hasn’t.
October 29, 2023 at 9:31 PM
Council have also since come back to the community – after MUCH digging by the community – that in their 500K loss of these ELC’s is included a notinal rent payment of $250K each year. That the council pays itself. On land it already owns. So therefore the loss is HALF what the council keep quoting. They have been purposely deceptive to the community.