For the parents of Hessian school children, there has been a state parent advisory board for more than six decades, and the coalition of CDU and Greens now wants to set one up for those of kindergarten children.

Before the summer break, the two factions want to introduce a bill to the Hessian state parliament, as the health policy spokeswoman for the Green faction, Kathrin Anders, said on request.

The coalition thinks it is "particularly important that there is a participation committee for daycare parents at state level".

Florentine Fritzen

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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The state parliament had already decided on this goal almost four years ago.

The spokesman for the CDU faction confirms the plans, but, like the spokeswoman for the Green faction, does not give any details about the content of the planned law.

An important question will be whether the advisory board should be made up of delegates from district or city parents' councils.

In many places, there are no such bodies for day-care centers either – or only for the parents of municipal kindergartens.

However, many institutions have church or other independent sponsors, such as welfare associations.

Despite the diverse structures, most federal states have now introduced state parent representatives for daycare centers, including North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein, but not Bavaria.

In Hesse there is only one state working group Kita-Eltern Hessen (LAG) with a service center financed by the Ministry of Social Affairs.

When the SPD and FDP parliamentary groups presented a draft law for a state parents' advisory council in 2019, representatives of the coalition thought it was too early to tackle the issue - including Social Affairs Minister Kai Klose (Die Grünen).

A body that school parents have had for a long time

Now his ministry supports the goal of “establishing parent councils beyond the institutions”.

The authority points out that since 2018 the LAG daycare parents have been supported "in order to take stock".

In the hearing on the opposition's draft law at the time, the working group itself spoke out against passing it immediately and suggested that the situation should first be examined.

A community survey followed.

A good year ago, the working group then decided on a key issues paper for a state parent advisory board, which is to be anchored in the Hessian child and youth welfare code.

Nikolai von Schlotheim from the Board of Directors is the spokesman for the “Provincial Parents’ Advisory Board Working Group”.

He would prefer a "lean law".

"The state parents' council should be given leeway to organize its structure itself." The parents also suggest introducing cross-carrier city and district parents' councils at the same time.

They should then elect the state parent advisory board members.

Where the lower level does not yet exist, provisional associations could also send delegates for the transition.

Father Nikolai von Schlotheim says:

But the day-care center parents would like to have a committee with similar resources as school parents have had for decades.

“Parent exchanges on our Facebook page are lively but informal.

An e-mail distribution list for all Hessian parent councils would make communication much easier.” The father cites the tests in kindergartens as an example.

“Many parents wanted a clear regulation.

An advisory board could articulate this more clearly and more bindingly.

Just like the call for early childhood education, which is idle in many places because of the pandemic.”

tackle problems and the future

From the point of view of the Green MP Anders, the LAG has done “important preliminary work” by helping to set up city parents’ councils and bringing together parents of all providers.

This was recently achieved in Hochheim in the Main-Taunus district.

In Frankfurt, the largest city in Hesse, with around 150 independent and denominational sponsors, there has so far only been one overall parents' council for the day care centers of the municipal sponsor Kita Frankfurt.

Its chairman Thomas Krohn hopes that the discussion at the state level will accelerate the plan for an advisory board for all the city's sponsors.

Krohn's Advisory Board speaks for the parents of 147 institutions with 12,600 places - compared to almost 34,000 places for independent providers.

"We alone would therefore not be a good docking point for the state level." The father says: A comprehensive city parents' advisory board would help

The plan is also in the coalition agreement of the four-party alliance in the Römer town hall.

As can be heard from the education department of city councilor Sylvia Weber (SPD), the responsible city school authority should work out a proposal together with the providers and parents.

The new advisory board should be based on city districts and school districts, not on the "regions" of Kita Frankfurt, because independent providers are organized differently.

The department cannot yet say when the proposal can be expected.