Illawarra preschools starved of funding have joined a campaign for a bigger slice of the state government's cake.
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Families are forced to pay more for a preschool program in NSW than anywhere else in the country, according to the Community Child Care Co-operative NSW.
CCCC NSW, the country's largest community childcare advocacy group, launched its "Bigger slice of the cake" campaign on Tuesday.
The group has urged the government to invest $4000 per year for every three- and four-year-old child in the state, rather than the current $193 contribution, so they can attend a "quality preschool program".
Director of Keiraville Community Preschool Margaret Gleeson said fees were one of the biggest barriers to children attending and the government had "consistently underfunded" preschools, compared with other states.
As a result, Mrs Gleeson said NSW had the lowest preschool attendance.
"It's a big concern there are people missing out and it's a big concern the state government has prioritised just children in their year before school," Mrs Gleeson said.
She said a preschool's important role was identifying children with additional needs.
"If a child only comes to a preschool in the year before school it means there's not enough time to put in place interventions that may support that child to have the best start to school they should," she said.
Keira MP and opposition education spokesman Ryan Park will be encouraged to "cut a bigger slice for preschools" during a visit to the preschool next week.
A spokesman for Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said the government's preschool reforms had made $150 million available to the community preschool sector - a $30 million increase.
"These reforms provide a fairer distribution of preschool funding across NSW to ensure that more children ... can access preschool before they start school, at a cost their families can afford," the spokesman said.
Ninety-five per cent of community preschools had their base funding rate increased, he said.
CCCC NSW says the government spends $14,000-plus on each child in a public primary school and questioned if children only became a "worthy investment" when they turned six.
