New Mexico is poised to become the first state in the nation to offer universal child care.
Starting in November, every parent in the state — regardless of how much they earn — will be able to obtain child care at no cost. Entry-level child care staff will earn a minimum of $18 an hour.
“This is part of a long-term trajectory the state has been on for decades, but since they created the Early Childhood Education and Care Department in 2019,” New Mexico Early Childhood Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky said in an interview with Here & Now’s Sarah McCammon. “It’s really completing the promise to New Mexico families for a universal prenatal-to-5 system that prepares children, that helps them enter kindergarten and really supports families and relieves financial burden.
5 questions with Elizabeth Groginsky
Where does that money come from?
“It is through the trust fund [that] was created through oil and gas surplus and federal mineral leasing, so it’s really the interest from those funds that are supporting these efforts.
How do you respond to critics who say this child care shouldn’t be available to wealthier people?
“In New Mexico we feel that moderate income families and all families deserve access to quality, free child care. We absolutely keep our eye on our most vulnerable in our low income, and that’s why the state is releasing a request for proposal for infant and toddler slots that will go to those who are low income.
“We have created an exemption for grandparents raising grandchildren and also for families where babies are born substance-exposed, so we recognize the need to ensure that those families are getting access, but child care is something that is expensive for most families, and we know that this is going to lift New Mexico’s economy. It’s going to help make sure that children are ready, and it’s really going to support our overall early childhood community prenatal to age 5.”
How do you plan to scale up this program so that there are enough caregivers for all of these children by November, when this starts?
“We recognize that there is a gap and that’s why we have established a plan to expand what we call registered home providers. We’ll have 1,000 of those. They can serve up to four children in their home. Also, licensed home providers that can serve up to six or 12 children in their home.
And then a full push for more centers. We have a $13 million low-interest loan that’s dedicated to helping child care programs access capital to expand and renovate their facilities.
“We’ve also reached out to industry leaders. We know that they have a direct interest in having their employees have access to quality child care, and we have had a good response from many of those that want to be part of the solution.”
How close are you to having enough capacity?
“I believe that within the next year, that’s our plan is for that next year to build that capacity of 12,000 additional spaces for children to learn and grow and develop.”
Do you think this is something other states can do too, or is New Mexico unique because you have access to that energy industry revenue that you mentioned?
“I think other states absolutely can do this, and I think it’s just finding that way, that path, what it is in their state that they have, but it’s putting families and young children at the center of your policy making, and it absolutely can be done and we’ve seen the transformational change in families’ lives and of course that translates to children and we have stronger communities.”
This interview was edited for clarity.
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Ashley Locke and Hafsa Quraishi produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Michael Scotto. Scotto also adapted it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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