Preschool education is intended for the period of upbringing and education of children before compulsory entry into primary school. It is not compulsory, which means that parents decide voluntarily whether to enroll their child in kindergarten or not. Parents have a choice of public and private kindergartens. Public kindergartens are established by the competent municipalities in which the kindergarten is located, and represent an important source of funding for them. Private kindergartens are established by natural or legal persons, domestic or foreign persons. Kindergarten program prices vary depending on whether the kindergarten is public or private. Public kindergartens have the same pricing system, so the differences between kindergartens are smaller. The purpose of the thesis is to present public kindergartens and compare three selected public kindergartens (Kindergarten Ivančna Gorica, Litija and Škofja Loka) in terms of funding sources and program prices.
The thesis uses a case study and a comparative method to compare selected public kindergartens. The comparison shows the similarities and differences in all three public kindergartens in terms of funding and their program prices. All three kindergartens have the largest share of the funding source obtained from the competent municipality. The remaining funding comes from other sources and is quite similar for all three kindergartens. But it can be observed that there are still minor differences, because some kindergartens can have higher income with the help of other sources than others.
The presentation of the financing of the three selected kindergartens helps to provide a clearer insight into the sources of financing and the financial operations of the kindergartens, in terms of economy and transparency of how kindergartens deal with public finances.
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