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A bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers from around the nation on Monday identified lack of facilities and high costs as two leading challenges states are facing in addressing childcare needs.

The bipartisan group, which includes a New Mexico lawmaker, presented their findings at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Chicago, along with several proposed solutions.

The report found that nearly 30% of the nation has a childcare gap, meaning more children require care than daycare centers can accommodate. Economically, the report found that childcare averages a cost of $13,000 annually 鈥� and that infant care, in particular, can run as high as $27,000, roughly equivalent to . And it found that the median annual wage for childcare professionals nationally is just $32,000.

The panel proposed seven solutions: expand access and availability; address affordability; invest in the childcare workforce; modernize licensing and quality-rating systems; strengthen small childcare businesses; find for the future; and elevate state early childhood governance and leadership.

Monday鈥檚 discussion often turned to New Mexico, where Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in late 2025 . Earlier this year, the state Legislature passed during specific times of economic decline.

State Sen. Linda Trujillo (D-Santa Fe) told a room of conference attendees Monday that work to create the universal program had been underway for years, although many people in and out of New Mexico hadn鈥檛 heard of it until late last year.

鈥淣ew Mexico didn鈥檛 just wake up one morning and say, 鈥楬ey, we鈥檙e going to provide universal childcare,鈥� 鈥� she said.

In 2019, while a member of the state House of Representatives, Trujillo to create the , which now oversees universal childcare. The next year, state leaders with an investment of more than $300 million. The fund鈥檚 balance, which pays for universal childcare in large part, .

Jenna Bannon, associate director of the NCSL鈥檚 Children and Families Program, added that the very report conferencegoers discussed Monday was born in New Mexico. The bipartisan group of 13 state lawmakers first met in Albuquerque in mid-2025 to compare notes on their respective states鈥� challenges surrounding childcare access and affordability, she said.

The work, she said, was important because childcare has gone from being a family-based, private issue to a public, economic issue. Leaders in most every state are looking for direction on how to navigate the many issues childcare affects, particularly workforce development, she noted.

According to Bannon, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts about 160,000 job openings for childcare workers each year in the coming decade. If those workers can鈥檛 make livable wages, that can have an impact on households where both parents want to work outside of the home, she said.

鈥淚f childcare is the workforce behind the workforce, we have a problem on our hands.鈥�

Trujillo said that problem is felt even in New Mexico, where every family is eligible for free childcare.

鈥淛ust because we say we have universal childcare doesn鈥檛 mean that we have universal access,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n Santa Fe, I have a working group of city councilors, county commissioners, community college and school board members because we have a shortage of 1,200 spaces for birth to 3-year-olds.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Goldberg for questions: [email protected].

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