The Education and Welfare Committee's proposal for the budget for 2026 and the financial plan for 2027-2028.

General: The largest expenses in education consist of personnel costs and internal rents. In addition, the competitive tendering of school transport will increase transport prices by 35,000 euros compared to the previous year. Salary increases for 2026 (2,47% compared to the 2025 level) have been included in salary costs. +15.000 euros have been calculated for the reform of learning support. In addition, the economic adjustment program has been taken into account. The budget of the Education and Welfare Board exceeds the given framework by 35,000 euros.

Early childhood education: Kettukallio daycare center provides early childhood education services according to the needs of the municipality. Evening, weekend and night care, as well as the increase in the number of children under 3 years of age, have increased personnel costs. The required weekly rest periods are being arranged through optimized shift planning without purchasing services. The trial of free early childhood education ended in 2024.

The Wilma early childhood education system will end at the end of 2025, and the introduction of the new system will cause additional costs for early childhood education.

Grammar school: There is one comprehensive school in Kihniö, which includes grades 1–9 and a preschool. The staff includes a principal, teachers, school counselors, a school youth worker, and kitchen workers.

In 2025, a new law was passed on the reform of learning support. The reform of the support will cause an estimated additional cost of approximately €15,000. This amount has been budgeted for basic education salaries to implement the reform of the learning support. The municipality of Kihniö will also receive a government grant for the reform, which is universal.

The school transport tender was held in spring 2025. The tender increased expenses by approximately €35,000.

To balance the increased costs, emphasis is placed on scheduling, reward for lessons, and the use of substitutes.

There will be a significant decrease in the number of students in the upper secondary school in the 2028-2029 academic year. Planning work on the future of the upper secondary school will begin in 2026.

Support services: In accordance with national regulations, the budget has separated administration and food supply into separate support service units, the costs of which are divided into different budget items.

Administration: The administration's personnel expenses include the salary expenses of the principal and office secretary, as well as part of the salary expenses of the Wilma manager and the welfare director. The appropriations reserved for the Education and Welfare Board's fees and travel allowances are in the Education and Welfare Board's administration item.

Food service: The personnel costs of the kitchen staff of the comprehensive school and the budget for raw materials are distributed to different budget items in proportion to the number of diners. The increase in food prices has been taken into account in the catering.

Library: The library's goal is to provide all citizens with information, culture, entertainment and opportunities for study. Kihniö Library maintains its already established cooperation with schools and promotes reading among children and young people, for example in the form of reading diplomas and book recommendations. In addition, the library serves as a free common place for the entire municipality to relax and meet.

The library is staffed by a full-time library director and a part-time library clerk. Through the PIKI library, customers have easy and quick access to the collections of libraries throughout Pirkanmaa.

Music and Civic Institute: The funds are proportional to the number of students. They enable basic studies to be completed and provide recreational opportunities.

Exercise and leisure activities: The aim is to maintain the activities at the current level and to organize a wide range of sports opportunities for people of all ages. A leisure activity instructor works in the leisure activity. The projects will finance any other employees.

The budget for 2026 has allocated 4.250 euros for grants to the sports sector. The leisure sector provides associations and organizations with equipment, facilities and sports venues to organize sports schools.

The gym has had good attendance and the activities will continue. The free shift for pensioners will continue in 2026. The leisure instructor will also contribute to the gym activities.

Salary costs for sports and leisure activities have increased due to the cost center transfer of food costs.

Youth activities: The budget has allocated 5.750 euros for youth work grants, from which the municipal government decides the amount of the salary subsidy to be paid to the 4H association.

The youth center, which was established in 2024, will continue to operate. The number of visitors to the youth center has increased, which means that special attention needs to be paid to safety. Safety-related measures such as an alarm system and the salary costs of temporary workers increase the costs of youth activities.

Youth street festivals will be held in 2026. The November Fair will not be held.

Cultural services: The Cultural Services Office Secretary and the Welfare Director are responsible for cultural services. The Cultural Services Office organizes various events and exhibitions within the budget. The Cultural Services Office organizes the Independence Day celebration together with the parish.

The summer guide's salary is paid for cultural services. In Wanha Puumila, the guide organizes various cultural and music events.

Museum services: The museum has been open during the summer from Tuesday to Saturday. The municipality organizes the museum's opening hours itself. The museum services are paid for by the museum's guide's salary. The museum's opening hours will be increased in the summer of 2026.

Promoting well-being and health: Half of the salary costs of the welfare director have been recorded under the heading of well-being and health promotion.

Agenda attachments:

The budget of the Ministry of Education for 2026 and the financial plan for 2027–2028 (text part) (Appendix 1).

The Pirkanmaa Welfare Region intends to terminate the lease agreement for the Families House and the operations are being transferred to the town hall or neighboring municipalities. The town hall's workspaces do not provide a suitable environment for family services for children, and moving the services further away from Parkano is not in the interests of families with children in Kihniö.

The Family House is staffed by 2 family clinic employees, a Rapid Family Guidance employee, a family worker from the home service for families with children, and 2 employees who perform family work and enhanced family work in accordance with the Social Welfare Act. The Family House is also used by MLL, the Finnish Association for Support for the Disabled, the Church Saturday Night Club, and occupational therapists from Coronaria for services for families with children. In addition, supervised meetings are organised at the Family House by the Pirkanmaa Welfare Region.

Group services in accordance with the current care guarantee (e.g. Ihmeelliste voot, Coolkids), as well as other group work (nepsy groups, baby groups, separation groups, etc.) require a suitable group space for the activities. Such premises can be found at the Family House. By organizing supervised meetings, the Family House has also provided a suitable home-like setting and the opportunity to practice everyday tasks together.

The town hall does not have a suitable space for the operation, which is why the services in question will have to be arranged in other municipalities in Pirkanmaa in the future. An example of this is the Ihmeeelliset vuotet parent guidance group starting in the autumn of -26, which will have to be arranged in Ikaalisi due to the space problem in Parkano. This means that customer families from Kihniö will have to drive up to 70 km in each direction for the services.

For several years now, customers have expressed their desire to shop at the Family House because of the homely atmosphere and easy access. Located in the courtyard of the health center, shopping at the Family House is also generally perceived as less stigmatizing, and this has also been praised by several customer families.

The employees of the Pirkanmaa Welfare Area have tried to influence the Pirkanmaa Welfare Area's working group by sending them letters about the need for a Family House, citing statistics. However, this has not yielded any results, which is why it is necessary to make a statement on behalf of the Education and Welfare Board, so that services for families with children in Kihniö do not slip further and further away.

The Education and Wellbeing Board refers to the Equality Act and the Act on Wellbeing Areas, in which Section 7 defines the responsibility of the well-being area for the availability of equal services. Services are not equal if people have to travel 70 km from peripheral municipalities to the nearest service point. This means that client families may have to take unpaid leave or completely skip services due to lack of financial and time resources. The absence of important services from the lives of client families, in turn, increases health disparities and inequality. Moving services further away is also not in the best interests of the child, which in turn contradicts Section 2 (responsibility for the well-being of the child) and Section 11 (organization and development of child protection) of the Child Welfare Act.

On behalf of the children and families of Kihniö, the Education and Welfare Board asks the Pirkanmaa Welfare Region to review the locations of service points and the importance of the Family House for families with children in the area. The Education and Welfare Board also recommends assessing the suitability of the Kihniö Health Center premises for providing services. We also recommend investigating the possibility of bringing the service to Kihniö as a mobile service at a local service point.

Kihniö Education and Welfare Board

The Children and Family Affairs Division is a voluntary institution appointed by the Education and Welfare Board in the municipality of Kihniö, which monitors the well-being of children and families, takes initiatives and reports to the Education and Welfare Board. The council consists of members appointed by the Education and Welfare Board. The Children and Family Affairs Division meets 2-4 times a year. In addition, the division operates as a youth guidance and service network in accordance with the Youth Act.

The decision to establish the Children and Family Affairs Division was made in 2013 at the initiative of the Centre and it met for the first time in February 2014. The daycare center director has previously acted as the section's drafter and convener, from whom the task has been transferred to the welfare coordinator and welfare director. It has been necessary to reconsider the role of the drafter and convener so that the section's activities can be carried out in the best possible way. Therefore, the daycare center director could, based on his or her experience and education, successfully act in the role of drafter, utilizing his or her expertise in working with children and families.

Library fees charged in PIKI libraries in 2026

• Adult department late fee 0,20 euros/loan/calendar day (Tampere & Valkeakoski 0,30), maximum 9 euros
• Late fee for VIP material in rapid circulation 0,20–0,50 euros/loan/calendar day, the material in question is not available at Kihniö Library
• The first and second return request costs 1 euro, the third return request costs 3 euros. The first return request for reserved material, which is sent immediately on the first day after the due date, is free of charge.
• A normal reservation is free of charge, but a 2 euro fee will be charged for a reservation that is not picked up.
• Regional reserve from other PIKI libraries 2 euros/loan
• New library card to replace a lost one: 2 euros
• Ordering an interlibrary loan 4 euros + possible fee charged by the sending library

Fees charged by Kihniö Library that are not dependent on PIKI agreements

• Printouts and copies: A4 black and white 0,25 euros; A4 color 0,50 euros; A3 black and white 0,50 euros; A3 color 1 euro

The Education and Welfare Board's revenue realization percentage is 73,9 and its expenditure realization percentage is 72,3. The operating margin percentage according to net budgeting is 71,9.

Decisions of the Director of Welfare for the period 21.8.-19.11.2025.

• HAO decision SECRET
• Review of the Adaptation Working Group meeting
• Project status overview
• Introducing the TEA Guide for Municipal Management and Culture
• Next meeting December 3.12rd at 17 pm