Dunoon Preschool, Dunoon and District Gazette

Northern Rivers Preschools join Day of Action, calling on the Minns government to fix preschool funding.

The state government has announced a plan for community preschools to extend operating hours, open more days, and cater for children from birth through to school age, however declined to provide any funding for wages or staff costs.

While local preschools have an excellent record of child safety and provision of high quality education in the years before school, they are struggling to keep their highly qualified staff. Teachers in community preschools earn up to 35 per cent less than their colleagues with the same qualifications and responsibilities in schools and up to 20 per cent less than teachers in Commonwealth-funded long day care centres.

Bridget Isichei, director of Byron Bay Preschool and president of the Northern Rivers Preschool Alliance said: “We’re experiencing a staffing crisis that is growing by the day, as experienced teachers and educators leave the sector and community preschools struggle to attract new staff. We cannot fund wages without government support as the current funding is too low”.

There are more than 700 community preschools across NSW that provide a vital service to educate and care for children aged three to five years, and over 40 of these are in the Northern Rivers region.

Bridget Isichei said: “Preschool is a flagship model and one that has children’s wellbeing and safety at its heart, so we must fight to retain it. Without an increase to NSW government funding to lift pay and conditions, many community preschools will be forced to turn away families.”

Preschools around NSW are holding a Day of Action on Wednesday 15th October to highlight the government’s poor response. Teachers, educators, and families from Northern Rivers Preschools will be marching from Spinks Park in Lismore at 9am, to the Lismore Quad, where they will rally to protest the NSW government’s lack of action. The Day of Action is supported by the NSW Independent Education Union. You can read more about the Day of Action at https://www.ieu.asn.au/start-strong-pay-fair/ and follow our Facebook page Start Strong Pay Fair.

This article appeared in Dunoon and District Gazette, October-November 2025.