Legislative changes were adopted to relax Soviet-era “hygiene standards”, permitting early childhood education and care to be provided in a wider range of accommodations. To stimulate provision, the Lithuanian central government authorised municipalities to use the funding received through the student basket funding methodology to support provision in private ECEC facilities, as well as public facilities. As a consequence of these changes, the number of private kindergartens has been steadily increasing, and in 2016, 25 of the country'’s 60 municipalities had private kindergartens. Expand participation in rural areas by focusing on stimulating parent demand for services.