Tauranga Region Kindergartens are operating a donation system in response to the rising cost of early childhood education.

Costs are estimated to have increased by 11.7 per cent in the year to June, with the amount similar to the rise in fruit and vegetables prices and overall transport costs.

Peter Monteith.

Tauranga Region Kindergartens principal Peter Monteith says he has been forced to ask parents to donate $2 a day per family.

It is not compulsory.

'Because it's a donation, children can still attend our kindergartens without charge if they assign us their 20 hours ECE.”

This is a reference to government allocation funding for a parent's enlisting of early childhood education services.

Peter says they have not seen a dramatic change in the use of their kindergartens yet.

'We still have significant uptake of our home based service, which we think is about the cheapest in town, but we are considering reviewing that given increasing costs and no significant increase in government funding.”

Peter blames the rising costs for ECE on government funding cuts, which targeted those services with more than 80 per cent qualified staff.

New Zealand Educational Institute national secretary Paul Goulter says an 11.7 per cent increase in the cost of early childhood education is significant and represents one of the largest increases across all the goods and services measured.

'What it means is that early childhood costs are contributing significantly to overall inflation.

'It also means that for many families, early childhood education is taking a big chunk out of their income at the same time as they battle soaring prices for food and petrol.”