Kindergarten funding rates

Information for Victorian government-funded kindergarten providers about kindergarten funding rates.

On this page

• Table 1 – 2026 funding rates
• Table 2 – Early Childhood Teacher Supplement
• Table 3 – Early Years Management
• Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations
• Travel allowance
• Documents

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

All per child funding rates are based on programs of 15 hours per week unless otherwise specified. 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, funding will be pro-rated to 15 hours. For services delivering a funded Pre-Prep program more than 15 hours, child level funding will be provided as outlined in the tables below.

Tables 1.1 to 1.4 outline the main per child funding rates that are available for the following service types:

• Table 1.1 – Sessional services excluding services operated by non-government schools
• Table 1.2 – Sessional services operated by non-government schools
• Table 1.3 – Long day care services excluding services operated by non-government schools
• Table 1.4 – Long day care services operated by non-government schools

From 2026, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations will be funded through a new funding approach.

Services offering both sessional and integrated long day care programs are treated as long day care services.

Read the kindergarten funding settings for details about eligibility and how payments are made for each funding stream.

Table 1 – 2026 funding rates

Table 1.1 – Sessional services excluding services operated by non-government schools

• Table 1.1 notes

For sessional services, baseline funding consists of per capita, Free Kinder, Priority Cohort, ESK, AEL, Ratio Supplement and ECTS funding.

*Services that are signatories to the Early Childhood Enterprise Agreements are services that operate under the Victorian Early Childhood Teachers’ and Educators’ Agreement (VECTEA) or the Early Education Employees’ Agreement (EEEA) or an approved equivalent agreement.

^All sessional rural services with 18 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) enrolments will receive a base funding amount that is equivalent to 18 full-time equivalent enrolments at the relevant rural per capita and Free Kinder rate. Rural services with 19 or more FTE enrolments will receive the relevant rural per capita rate for all enrolments up to 45 FTE enrolments, and the relevant standard per capita rate for the 46th FTE enrolment and above. For more information on the FTE approach for Pre-Prep please refer to kindergarten funding settings.

** Pre-Prep enrolments receive the 15-hour funding rates for the first 15 hours plus the Pre-Prep hourly rate for each extra hour over 15.

***At sessional services, Priority Cohort funding applies to all children in Three-Year-Old Kindergarten, Four-Year-Old Kindergarten and Pre-Prep enrolments who:

• identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
• are from a refugee or asylum seeker background
• have had contact with child protection
• were supported by Early Start Kindergarten (ESK) or Access to Early Learning (AEL) in their Three-Year-Old Kindergarten year
• have (or have a parent or guardian who has) a Commonwealth concession card
• are from a multiple birth (triplets or more). ESK will continue to apply where children are eligible. Children funded under Priority Cohort and ESK/AEL funding receive this funding in place of per capita and Free Kinder funding. Priority Cohort and ESK/AEL funding enrolments at services that participate in Free Kinder will not be paid per capita or Free Kinder funding in addition to the Priority Cohort and ESK/AEL funding rate.

Priority Cohort children enrolled in Pre-Prep receive the 15-hour funding rates for the first 15 hours plus the Pre-Prep hourly rate for each extra hour over 15.

****In 2026, Pre-Purchased Places are funded at 20 hours to accommodate the delivery of Pre-Prep. 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 per capita or Free Kinder funding in addition to the PPP funding rates.

Table 1.2 – Sessional services operated by non-government schools

• Table 1.2 notes

For sessional services operated by non-government schools, baseline funding consists of per capita, Free Kinder, Priority Cohort, ESK and AEL funding.

*Kindergarten services operated by a non-government school in the Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) 1, 2 and 3 will receive the non-government schools Standard per capita rate.

Sessional services funded at the non-government Type 1 and Type 2 rates that participate in Free Kinder will be paid at the non-government schools Standard per capita rate.

** Pre-Prep enrolments receive the 15-hour funding rates for the first 15 hours plus the Pre-Prep hourly rate for each extra hour over 15.

*** At sessional services, Priority Cohort funding applies to Three-Year-Old Kindergarten, Four-Year-Old Kindergarten and Pre-Prep enrolments who:

• identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
• are from a refugee or asylum seeker background
• have had contact with child protection
• were supported by Early Start Kindergarten (ESK) or Access to Early Learning (AEL) in their Three-Year-Old Kindergarten year
• have (or have a parent or guardian who has) a Commonwealth concession card
• are from a multiple birth (triplets or more). ESK will continue to apply where children are eligible. Children funded under Priority Cohort and ESK/AEL funding receive this funding in place of per capita and Free Kinder funding. Priority Cohort and ESK/AEL funding enrolments at services that participate in Free Kinder will not be paid per capita or Free Kinder funding in addition to the Priority Cohort and ESK/AEL funding rate.

Priority Cohort children enrolled in Pre-Prep receive the 15-hour funding rates for the first 15 hours plus the Pre-Prep hourly rate for each extra hour over 15.

Table 1.3 – Long day care services excluding services operated by non-government schools

Table 1.3.1 Eligibility for long day care services excluding services operated by non-government schools

• Table 1.3 notes

*The Standard Type 1 per capita rate applies to integrated long day care services, excluding local government run services. The Standard Type 2 per capita rate applies to local government run integrated long day care services.

**Services that are signatories to the Early Childhood Enterprise Agreements are services that operate under the Victorian Early Childhood Teachers’ and Educators’ Agreement (VECTEA) or the Early Education Employees’ Agreement (EEEA) or an approved equivalent agreement.

^All integrated long day care rural services funded at the rural per capita rates with 18 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) enrolments will receive a base funding amount that is equivalent to 18 FTE enrolments. Rural services with 19 or more FTE enrolments will receive the relevant rural per capita rate for all enrolments up to 45 FTE enrolments, and where applicable, the relevant standard per capita rate for the 46th FTE enrolment and above. For more information on the FTE approach for Pre-Prep please refer to kindergarten funding settings.

*** Pre-Prep enrolments receive the 15-hour funding rates for the first 15 hours plus the Pre-Prep hourly rate for each extra hour over 15.

****At long day care services, Priority Cohort funding applies to Four-Year-Old Kindergarten and Pre-Prep enrolments who:

• identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
• are from a refugee or asylum seeker background
• have had contact with child protection
• were supported by Early Start Kindergarten (ESK) or Access to Early Learning (AEL) in their Three-Year-Old Kindergarten year. ESK will continue to apply where children are eligible. Children funded under Priority Cohort and ESK/AEL funding receive this funding in place of per capita and Free Kinder funding. Priority Cohort and ESK/AEL funding enrolments at services that participate in Free Kinder will not be paid per capita or Free Kinder funding in addition to the Priority Cohort and ESK/AEL funding rate.

Priority Cohort children enrolled in Pre-Prep receive the 15-hour funding rates for the first 15 hours plus the Pre-Prep hourly rate for each extra hour over 15.

Table 1.4 – Long day care services operated by non-government schools

• Table 1.4 notes

For long day care services operated by non-government schools, baseline funding consists of per capita, Priority Cohort funding (per capita component only), ESK and AEL funding.

*Kindergarten services operated by a non-government school in the Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) 1, 2 and 3 will receive the non-government schools Standard per capita rate.

**Pre-Prep enrolments receive the 15-hour funding rates for the first 15 hours plus the Pre-Prep hourly rate for each extra hour over 15.

***At long day care services, Priority Cohort funding applies to Four-Year-Old Kindergarten and Pre-Prep enrolments who:

• identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
• are from a refugee or asylum seeker background
• have had contact with child protection
• were supported by Early Start Kindergarten (ESK) or Access to Early Learning (AEL) in their Three-Year-Old Kindergarten year. ESK will continue to apply where children are eligible. Children funded under Priority Cohort and ESK/AEL funding receive this funding in place of per capita and Free Kinder funding. Priority Cohort and ESK/AEL funding enrolments at services that participate in Free Kinder will not be paid per capita or Free Kinder funding in addition to the Priority Cohort and ESK/AEL funding rate.

Priority Cohort children enrolled in Pre-Prep receive the 15-hour funding rates for the first 15 hours plus the Pre-Prep hourly rate for each extra hour over 15.

Table 2 – Early Childhood Teacher Supplement

From 2026, the ECTS is based on the number of more experienced teachers at Level 2.5 and above employed to lead kindergarten programs, not on enrolments.

Table 3 – Early Years Management

*Long day care services that deliver both integrated and sessional programs are paid these grants at the long day care rate.

**A one-off grant for newly established and approved EYM organisations.

Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations

The 2026 Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCO) funding model (15-hour rate) is $14,839. The Pre-Prep hourly rate (for each extra weekly Pre-Prep hour) for ACCOs is $989.27.

This means that Pre-Prep enrolments receive the 15-hour funding rate for the first 15 hours plus the Pre-prep hourly rate for each extra hour over 15.

From 2026, ACCOs delivering funded kindergarten programs receive a new uplifted and streamlined funding rate incorporating all other kindergarten funding streams. This means that ACCO-managed services receive a single per child rate comprising the maximum rates for per capita funding, Free Kinder, ECTS, Ratio Supplement and School Readiness Funding (SRF).

All ACCO-managed services with 18 or fewer full-time equivalent enrolments will receive a base funding amount that is equivalent to 18 full-time equivalent enrolments.

Read Funding for Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations delivering kindergarten for more information about the new ACCO funding.

Travel allowance

The 2026 travel allowance rate is $0.99/km.

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.

Documents

• Download the Kindergarten funding rates 2025 (DOCX, 84.3KB)
• Download the Kindergarten funding rates 2024 (DOCX, 88KB)

Kindergarten funding settings

Learn about changes to kindergarten funding and operational settings in Victoria from 2026.

Early childhood education and care

Updated 26 March 2026

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