Concept and Background Regarding the Collection of Food Material Costs for School Meals Associated with the Free Provision of Early Childhood Education and Care

1. In implementing the free early childhood education and childcare starting from October 1, 2019, the government has indicated that the cost of school lunch ingredients is an expense incurred even when parenting at home, and that meals at compulsory education schools where tuition is free, as well as meals at other social welfare facilities, are also borne by the individual. Therefore, it has been stated that both staple food costs and side dish costs should be borne by the Parent or Guardian.
2. The city includes the cost of school meal ingredients in the childcare fees for users of the 2-year-old class and below, regardless of the national policy of free provision, meaning it is self-paid. Considering the current situation where users of kindergartens and unlicensed childcare facilities generally bear their own meal costs, and from the perspective of overall fairness, it has been decided that users of Licensed Childcare Centers and certified child centers in the 3-year-old class and above will also bear the cost of school meal ingredients, including both staple and side dishes, themselves.
   In addition, households with a third child, households receiving Public Assistance, non-taxable households, and households with Municipal Resident Tax income levy below a certain amount will be exempt from school lunch material costs.
3. Regarding the collection amount for school lunch ingredient costs, discussions were held seven times on February 26, 2019, March 26, 2019, April 23, 2019, May 28, 2019, June 25, 2019, July 11, 2019, and July 23, 2019, at the "Inagi Private Nursery School Directors' Meeting" (comprising the following schools: Sixth Nursery School, Hirao Nursery School, Matsuba Nursery School, Koyodai Nursery School, Shiroyama Nursery School, Mominoki Nursery School Nagamine, Wakabadai Baobab Nursery School, Mominoki Nursery School Wakabadai, Nakajima Yushi Nursery School, Shiroyama Nursery School Minamiyama, Hongo Yushi Nursery School, Mary Poppins Inagi Room, Keio Kids Platz Yomiuriland, Inagi Yanokuchi Kirara Nursery School, Southern Hills Kodomoen).
   At that meeting, the city stated that since not all applicants for Nursery Schools can be admitted to their first choice, it is desirable to unify the fees across all Licensed Childcare Centers. However, the cost of school meal ingredients is a private claim of each center, and private Nursery Schools each have their own characteristics, with differences in their approach to food education and meal management. Therefore, we have requested consideration of fees taking these factors into account.
   Regarding the specific burden amount for school lunch food material costs, we have been requesting consideration on whether it is possible to provide within the total of 7,500 yen, consisting of 3,000 yen for staple food and 4,500 yen for side dishes, as indicated by the national government.
   Also, when considering this from the city’s side, examples of how to calculate the collection unit price and references such as the past performance of public Nursery Schools were provided, including a suggested amount of 5,400 yen per month for 5 days a week as a guideline for school meal ingredient costs, for review.
   As a result, at the "Inagi Private Nursery School Directors' Meeting" held on July 23, 2019, it was decided by the "Inagi Private Nursery School Directors' Meeting" that parents or guardians would bear a monthly cost of 7,500 yen for school meal ingredients at each facility, covering both staple food and side dish expenses.
   Based on these results, the city has decided to set the monthly fee for public Nursery Schools at the same amount of 7,500 yen as determined by the "Inagi Private Nursery School Directors' Association." This decision was reported to the Welfare and Education Committee on August 7, 2019, and has been communicated to facility users through the schools.
   Regarding the amount, if revisions are made in the future based on discussions by the Inagi Private Nursery School Directors' Association, the city will also consider the intentions of the Inagi Private Nursery School Directors' Association in its review.

The above content is based on the report presented at the Welfare and Education Committee held on September 12, 2019.
There seems to be information that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government provides a subsidy (3,000 yen per month) to the city for staple food expenses, but there is no subsidy from Tokyo Metropolitan Government linked to staple food expenses. Currently, there is no subsidy from Tokyo Metropolitan Government for school meal ingredient costs; however, there is a Parenting Promotion Grant from Tokyo Metropolitan Government. This grant is intended to promote unique initiatives by municipalities that utilize local characteristics and creativity, aiming to create an environment where residents can safely give birth to and raise children. The grant can be comprehensively used for various projects, including infant childcare services, 11-hour childcare measures, childcare for children with disabilities, extended childcare services, after-school childcare services, and regular Vaccination programs.

About the Tokyo Parenting Promotion Grant

1 Purpose

According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Parenting Promotion Grant Guidelines, this subsidy promotes unique initiatives by municipalities that utilize local characteristics and creativity, aiming to create an environment where children can be safely born and raised in municipalities, and is provided to municipalities within the budgetary limits.

2 Calculation Rules for Grants in the Fiscal Year 2018

The grant amount consists of the basic portion, policy inducement portion, and scale increase portion.

1. The basic amount is calculated by multiplying the unit price per person for the population of children aged 0 to 9, and it will be provided within the budget of Tokyo.
2. The policy guidance portion quantifies the implementation status of parenting-related projects in each city into points, which are then multiplied by a unit price and granted.
   Parenting-related projects in each city; pioneering Child and Family Support Center projects, home visits for all households with infants and young children, parenting plaza projects, sick child and post-illness childcare, extended childcare services, extended hours for After-School Childcare Program, etc.
3. The scale increase will be calculated by multiplying the increase in the number of children accepted at Childcare Centers and after-school care between October 1, 2006, and October 1 of the fiscal year eligible for the grant by the unit price, and will be granted accordingly.

3 Use

The Parenting Promotion Grant can be allocated to child care support projects implemented by municipalities.
In the fiscal year 2018 settlement, Parenting Promotion Grants amounting to 479,071,000 yen were allocated to the total project costs of the following subsidized projects.

Subsidy Target Projects	Total Project Cost
Zero-Year-Old Childcare Program	109,345,920
11-Hour Open Childcare Measures Project	201,936,560
Childcare Services for Children with Disabilities	43,005,120
Extended Childcare Program	19,881,200
After-School Childcare Program	265,154,504
Parenting Plaza Project	5,619,961
Regular Vaccination Program	209,617,024
3-Year-Old Health Checkup Program	3,627,132
Dental Health Checkup Program for 3-Year-Olds	2,184,902
Infants and Young Children Dental Consultation Program	8,243,087
Short Stay Program	2,022,000
Total	870,637,410

• Regarding the collection of food ingredient costs for school meals associated with the free provision of early childhood education and childcare (PDF) (PDF 158.4KB)
• About Parenting Promotion Subsidy (PDF) (PDF 101.8KB)