Kindergarten funding rates

Victorian government funded kindergarten providers can find which funding rates are applicable to their services in the table below.

The same rates apply to funded three-year-old and four-year-old enrolments in programs of 15 hours per week. For services delivering a funded Three-Year-Old Kindergarten program less than 15 hours, child level funding will be provided on a prorated basis.

More information about each funding stream, including eligibility and how payments are made is available in the kindergarten funding guide.

Table 1 – Core per child funding rates

	2024 rate
Per capita – Services not operating under the Early Childhood Enterprise Agreements (EA)
Standard per capita	$3,831
Rural per capita*	$4,737
Independent schools Standard**	$3,831
Independent schools Type 1**	$656
Independent schools Type 2**	$2,128
Per capita – Services operating under the Early Childhood Enterprise Agreements (EA) (or approved equivalent agreement)***
EA Standard per capita	$4,233
EA Rural per capita*	$5,235
Early Start Kindergarten (ESK) and Access to Early Learning****
ESK Standard	$6,796
ESK Rural	$7,798

*All rural services with 18 or fewer enrolments will receive a base funding amount that is equivalent to 18 enrolments at the relevant rural per capita rate. Rural services with 19 or more enrolments will receive the relevant rural per capita rate for all enrolments up to 45 children, and where applicable, the standard per capita rate for the 46th enrolment and above.
**From 2019, non-government school kindergarten services in the Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) 1 will receive the standard per capita rate. Please see the kindergarten funding guide for further information.
***Services that are signatories to the Early Childhood Enterprise Agreements are services that operate under the new Victorian Early Childhood Teachers' and Educators' Agreement (VECTEA) or the Early Education Employees' Agreement (EEEA) or an approved equivalent agreement.
**** Children funded under ESK/AEL receive this funding in place of per capita. From 2023, Free Kinder funding is included in the ESK/AEL funding rates. ESK/AEL enrolments at services that participate in Free Kinder will not be paid Free Kinder funding in addition to the ESK/AEL funding rates.

Table 2 – Free Kinder and other funding to support a free program

	2024 rate Services that offer Free Kinder	2024 rate Services that do not offer Free Kinder
Free Kinder
Sessional services	$2,563	N/A
Long Day Care services	$2,050	N/A
Per capita top-up for Type 1 independent school sessional programs (paid in addition to $2,563 Free Kinder rate)	$3,175	N/A
Per capita top-up for Type 2 independent school sessional programs (paid in addition to $2,563 Free Kinder rate)	$1,703	N/A
Kindergarten Fee Subsidy
KFS	NA	$2,083
Early Start Kindergarten Extension
ESK Extension	N/A	$2,083

These rates apply to children receiving per capita funding, please refer to Table 1 for funding rates for children eligible for ESK/AEL.

Please see the kindergarten funding guide for further information including eligibility requirements.

Table 3 – Supplementary funding

	2024 rate
Ratio Supplement^
Ratio supplement – Standard	$557
Ratio supplement – Early Start Kindergarten	$557
Early Childhood Teacher Supplement^^
Standard rate – Level 2.5	$275
Standard rate – Level 3.1	$482
Standard rate – Level 3.2 to 3.6	$688
Rural rate – Level 2.5	$340
Rural rate – Level 3.1	$594
Rural rate – Levels 3.2 to 3.6	$853
Pre-Purchased Places^^^
Pre-Purchased Places	$6,796
Travel allowance^^^^	$0.96km

^Ratio supplement funding is paid per child to any sessional service eligible for standard or rural per capita funding offering programs with groups of 23 or more at the required educator child ratio of 1:11.
^^The ECTS is available to services that employ eligible teachers under the Victorian Early Childhood Teacher and Educator Agreement (VECTEA) 2020 or the Early Education Employees Agreement (EEEA) 2020 (or an Agreement with an equivalent salary structure and employment conditions).
^^^Free Kinder funding is included in the Pre-Purchased Places (PPP) funding rate. Enrolments that fill PPPs at services that participate in Free Kinder will not be paid Free Kinder funding in addition to the PPP funding rates.
^^^^Travel allowance is only available for services where at least one of the services is funded at the rural rate. The allowance is paid per kilometre. Please see the kindergarten funding guide for eligibility and payment details.

Table 4 – Early Years Management

	January-December 2024
Annual grant – sessional kindergarten services	$18,500
Annual grant – long day care services*	$11,464
Additional support loading (for sessional services in rural and/or disadvantaged services)	$3,690
Start-up grant – sessional kindergarten services	$18,500
Start-up grant – long day care services*	$11,464
Transition grant - sessional kindergarten services	$18,500
Transition grant - long day care services*	$11,464
New provider grant**	Up to $78,797

On this page

Table 1 – Core per child funding rates

Table 2 – Free Kinder and other funding to support a free program

Table 3 – Supplementary funding

Table 4 – Early Years Management

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