the new criteria for nursery places do not pass
The municipality of Toulouse has decided to modify the points system on which the Commission for the allocation of childcare places is based to distribute places in crèches. Opposition politicians did not approve of these changes.
This is a change that will concern parents and future parents. The city council of Toulouse adopted a deliberation on the evolution of the functioning of the Commission for the allocation of childcare places (CApAJE) on July 1, 2022. Until now named Single admission commissionit decides on admissions to public crèches and certain associative crèches.
The town hall has decided to have its award criteria assessed. Indeed, the CAPAJE relies on a point system to distribute the places. The latter takes into account criteria on family composition and professional situation, but also specific situations.
A vagueness around the criterion of resumption of activity for the opposition
UN couple in which one of the two members works will thus obtain 3 points. Similarly, the CAPAJE assigns 3 points in the event of an emergency situation (break in custody, etc.) and 1 for the anteriority of the file. “This criterion is absurd. It facilitates the race on a first-come, first-served basis,” says Antoine Maurice. The president of the Toulouse group, a solidarity ecologist and citizen, also denounces the “maintenance of the criterion for resuming activity”.
“We do not see to whom this bonus will apply because the term activity does not mean anything in itself. It must be specified whether it is an exit from unemployment or a return from maternity leave, ”underlines Antoine Maurice. Indeed, a person who has found his job after maternity leave will already have points because he has a job and a parent who has found a job after a period of unemployment will be considered as a worker. The elected official adds: “This criterion is all the more vague as it would be granted on supporting documents and you do not say which”.
Reinstate the income criterion in the allocation of places
“Politics can hide behind criteria to restore its power over the distribution of places in crèches. Their rarity obliges us to always be more transparent and objective”, declares the president of the opposition group. He also deplores the absence of an income criterion.
“You still do not introduce this criterion that you removed,” he recalls. The methods of attribution had indeed already evolved in 2015. “You do not care about those who survive with or without work”, estimates the president of the group Toulouse ecologist solidarity and citizen who accuses the town hall of forcing parents to leave public service.
“Eight years since, no creation of a public crèche”
“The choice to extend the criteria to daycare and emergency reception will lead to a risk of bureaucratization of this system because to have a place, you will have to go through a whole process that will put families in difficulty. and push them towards the liberal”, foresee Antoine Maurice. He continues: “But that’s what you want if you have vacancies and you reduce supply.”
According to the chairman of the opposition group, the municipality has not created any public crèche in eight years. “You have given a lot of incorrect or false information,” says Laurence Katzenmayer. The deputy mayor in charge of early childhood assures: “Of course we have integrated and opened crèches”.
The mayor of Toulouse denounces “Byzantine discussions”
But Antoine Maurice is not of this opinion. “When you arrived in 2014, there were 50 crèches, then 49 in 2016, 48 in 2018 and 49 again in 2022. There was indeed a creation, but also closures, which in the end did not create more than places, on the contrary”, he supports.
Faced with the opposition’s proposals, the mayor of Toulouse made a point of emphasizing: “In eight years, the supply of places in crèches has been developed to reach an unequaled level in Toulouse. When we compare ourselves to other big cities, we are in the lead in the scale of the effort made”. “For me, that’s the main thing. The rest are discussions of principle, posture, not to say byzantine concludes Jean-Luc Moudenc.