Vorarlberg uses all federal kindergarten funding

Vorarlberg, an Austrian state, has used virtually all federal funding available for kindergartens, unlike most other states, ORF reported. Nearly 10 million euros flows to Vorarlberg each year, and the state has exhausted the funding in each of the past two years.

The funding is available from the 2022/23 to 2026/27 kindergarten years for the mandatory kindergarten year for five-year-olds, as well as for expanding places, improving staff-to-child ratios, extending opening hours and providing language support.

In the most recently settled year, 2024/25, the states had access to 80.5 million euros for the mandatory kindergarten year and 191.5 million euros for expansion and language support. Nationwide, around 67.9 million euros for expansion and language support went unclaimed, along with more than 800,000 euros for the mandatory kindergarten year. The states ultimately claimed 79.6 million euros and 123.7 million euros respectively.

Vorarlberg and Lower Austria used all or almost all of the available funding. Vienna and Upper Austria also used a large share. For the mandatory kindergarten year, only Tyrol and Salzburg left a significant portion of the funding unused.

Vorarlberg receives exactly 9.8 million euros in federal funding per kindergarten year. No other state has used its allocation as consistently. Styria left around 76 percent of its funding unclaimed last year, followed by Burgenland and Carinthia, which left more than 63 percent and 56 percent unused respectively.

Vorarlberg is investing the money mainly in staff, smaller groups, longer opening hours and additional language support. However, the results have fallen short in some areas. The need for language support declined by only 12.5 percent, compared with a target of 40 percent. The number of language-support staff in Vorarlberg has also fallen slightly, while it has increased significantly across Austria.

The Greens are calling for a binding expansion plan for the states, a sustainable financing solution for early education and a legal entitlement to a kindergarten place.