Following Education Minister Conrad Clemens (CDU), the SPD in the Saxon State Parliament is also calling for improvements to the federal government’s daycare plans. The principle of “whoever commissions it, pays for it” must also apply to early childhood education, clarified SPD education expert Gerald Eisenblätter. “Whoever introduces new nationwide quality standards must also ensure that the states and municipalities are permanently able to implement them.”
Measures must fit into the existing daycare structure
“Mandatory language assessments and the targeted allocation of resources using a social index are welcome. However, the implementation must be tailored to local needs and fit into the existing daycare structure,” Eisenblätter emphasized. If, in the end, only 48 million euros instead of 97 million euros were to flow to Saxony, the preparation and follow-up time for early childhood educators and the substitute system in daycare would then have to be financed solely from the state budget, and new responsibilities would fall on the state and municipalities, then urgent adjustments would be necessary.
Saxony’s Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs, Clemens, had made a similar argument on Friday. The draft combines more requirements with less support, he told the German Press Agency. “That won’t work.”
Copyright 2026, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved
