For 10 years they said it couldn’t be done. They said the idea was too big, too risky, too audacious. Ten years ago, when advocates came up with a plan to tap a small portion of the Land Grant Permanent Fund for early childhood education, they were met with all these criticisms and more. But the people of New Mexico are tired of others telling them we can’t afford to build a better future for their children.
After 10 years of conservative politicians telling them “no,” New Mexico voters went to the polls last November and overwhelmingly said “yes” to creating a stable and predictable source of funding for early education and care.
The day has arrived when New Mexico families begin to feel the full impact of that vote in their lives. The Land Grant Permanent Fund has enabled the largest expansion of New Mexico pre-K in state history, providing nearly $100 million to pre-K programs throughout the mixed-delivery system of community-based centers, home-based programs, public schools and Head Start/tribal Head Start centers. This has expanded state pre-K capacity for 3,000 additional 3- and 4-year-olds, including over 500 new tribal pre-K slots, and significantly increased instructional hours across the board.
The Land Grant Permanent Fund also has expanded funding for home-visiting programs, which provide vital support for families, prenatally through age 5. Home visitors visit families in the convenience of their own home to help equip them with parenting skills, information on safe sleep, lactation and nutrition support, finding child care, preparing for school, and more. Best of all, it’s completely free for all New Mexico families regardless of income and is proven to improve child safety and healthy development. This amazing program is now available to more families across more counties throughout New Mexico, with a planned expansion to 2,000 additional families in fiscal year 2024 alone.
The fund also has freed up additional funding to increase wages for early childhood professionals and extend the historic expansion of New Mexico’s Child Care Assistance Program, maintaining expanded income eligibility and waiving parent copays. That means most New Mexico families continue to be eligible for free child care.
This is a game changer for New Mexico families. Before the child care assistance expansion, families routinely spent a third or more of their income on child care. Over the last year, we’ve spoken with countless families who have gained the financial freedom to pursue professional opportunities, save for retirement, eliminate credit card debt, make a down payment on a house, increase quality time with family, and other activities that improve their stability, security and well-being.
Because of our administration’s bold vision and decisive action, current and future generations of New Mexicans will reap the economic, educational and societal benefits of the comprehensive prenatal-to-5 system we are building. Studies show investments in high-quality early childhood education and care strengthens families, helps break cycles of poverty and despair, and provides a 13% annual return on investment.
New Mexicans are tired of timid governance and stagnation. When the status quo does not serve the health, safety and happiness of our families and children, we must act. We simply cannot afford for the problems that have stunted our potential for generations to be passed down to the state’s children today. Because we broke free from old ways of thinking, New Mexico now leads the nation in early education and care. Imagine what more we can accomplish for our state when we finally leave behind a poverty mindset and move confidently toward the future that families and children in our state want and deserve.
Elizabeth Groginsky is Cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department.
