Place guarantee to ECEC

Children are entitled to a place in a kindergarten. Preschool education is not compulsory; parents make enrolment decisions.

Municipalities are responsible for ensuring a place in a kindergarten for all eligible children in the relevant catchment area of their permanent residence (Sections 9 and 10 of the Kindergarten Act).

If there is no public kindergarten in the municipality where a family lives, or if the public kindergarten does not have enough available places, the municipality must act within 30 days to provide additional places in a public kindergarten or to open a concession procedure.

This helps ensure a timely municipal response and better access to preschool education that reflects the local community's needs.

Kindergartens publish up-to-date information on their websites about the total number of places, current availability, and the expected waiting time from enrolment to a child’s admission to a programme. This information is also shared monthly with the ministry, which manages an information point on the availability of kindergarten places nationwide.

As a result, parents can easily find, in one place, a clear overview of available places in both public and private kindergartens within their municipality.

Affordability

The price of a kindergarten programme is set by the municipality and covers the costs of education, care and meals, excluding investments and major maintenance. 

Kindergartens providing a public service propose the programme price, which is approved by the competent municipal authority in accordance with the methodology set by the minister responsible for education. Private kindergartens operating under a concession are financed on the same basis as public kindergartens.

Source: Ministrstvo za vzgojo in izobraževanje, 2 September 2025.

Payments by parents are based on the price of the programme the child attends. Parents may apply for a reduced payment for children enrolled in public kindergartens, private kindergartens operating under a concession, or private kindergartens financed from the municipal budget.

Applications for a reduced payment are submitted to the social work centre in the month prior to the child’s enrolment in kindergarten. The entitlement takes effect in the month following submission and is valid for 12 months.

The amount parents pay depends on household income and ranges from 0% to 77% of the programme price. 

The reduced kindergarten payment scheme helps ease the financial burden on families and encourages greater participation of children in kindergarten.

Source: Ministrstvo za delo, družino, socialne zadeve in enake možnosti, January 2026.

Who pays for kindergarten, and how much?

The amount parents pay for kindergarten depends on household income and certain exceptional circumstances. The following rules apply:

• Families with the lowest incomes are exempt from payment, while families with the highest incomes pay up to 77% of the programme price.
• Parents who do not apply for a reduced payment 77% of the programme price.
• Families receiving monetary social reliefs are fully exempt from kindergarten fees.
• If a family has more than one child enrolled in kindergarten at the same time, parents do not pay for the youngest child; the third and each subsequent child from the same family are also exempt from payment, regardless of whether they attend kindergarten at the same time as their sibling.
• The short 240-hour programme for children in the year before starting school is free of charge for parents.
• Foreign parents pay the full price of the programme.
• Foster children are fully exempt from kindergarten fees; the cost of the programme is covered by the municipality of the foster child’s permanent residence.

In exceptional cases, a social work centre may decide on an additional reduction if payment would endanger the family’s social security or for other justified reasons.

Private kindergartens set their own programme prices. Municipalities provide public funding to private kindergartens at 85% of the public kindergarten programme price in the same municipality, reduced by the amount parents would pay if their child attended a public kindergarten. As a result, payments by parents in private kindergartens are also subsidised, although the final price for parents may differ from that in public kindergartens within the same municipality.

All financial benefits and allowances available to families with children enrolled in public kindergartens also apply to families whose children attend private kindergartens operating under a concession.