Fewer children are being born in Sweden, and according to the Social Democrats, the Statistics Sweden (SCB) expects all municipalities to have fewer preschool children in the next five years.
Now the party is warning that this could lead to a "cash rain" over the owners of independent preschools. The Social Democrats claim that independent preschools are overcompensated with 1.6-1.9 billion kronor per year, and that the amount will become even larger when the number of children decreases.
The Social Democrats are demanding that the overcompensation be stopped.
We cannot have a situation where money that could go to more teachers instead goes to independent preschool corporations that make a profit from our children, says the party's education policy spokesperson Åsa Westlund.
A proposal for how this could be done already exists, she says.
It involves municipalities deducting their additional costs when calculating the school allowance for independent schools. Exactly the same proposal can be used in the preschool area.
The Social Democrats also want a moratorium on the establishment of independent schools.
We must not, of course, let in even more profiteers into this market.
