社区黑料

New Mexico, a state long used to landing at the bottom of national rankings for children鈥檚 well-being, just made a change that makes it the first in the country: In April, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham that it would waive child care subsidy copays and expand eligibility to make care free for one year for nearly all residents. It鈥檚 the first state to offer free child care to such a broad swath of its population.

The governor鈥檚 announcement came at 鈥渁 perfect time鈥� for Melissa Martinez, a parent in Albuquerque. A single mother of two children, her child care subsidy copays had been waived during the pandemic. But she was about to have to start paying again in a matter of weeks had the governor not waived copays for nearly all New Mexicans.

Child care 鈥渉as been a financial challenge for me,鈥� she said. She doesn鈥檛 get any child support from her children鈥檚 father. Her parents and siblings have all passed away, so she has no family to watch her children while she works. Even finding something that lines up with her work schedule, which requires her to travel all over the state and put in late nights, has been challenging, but she finally found a center that offers 24-hour care that she loves.

Not having to pay for child care is 鈥渁 sigh of relief,鈥� she said. It鈥檒l save her a couple hundred dollars a month, which she鈥檒l be able to put toward household necessities and bills. She鈥檒l be able to get her air conditioning units cleaned and stay up to date with her electricity bill.

Beyond making care cost-free, New Mexico also expanded eligibility for state assistance to families earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or $111,000 a year for a family of four. The state estimates that 30,000 families like Martinez鈥檚 will receive free child care. 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen the cost of transportation, food, utilities, so many things have gone up for families,鈥� said Elizabeth Groginksy, New Mexico鈥檚 cabinet secretary for early childhood education. The copay waiver is a way 鈥渢o provide financial relief to families.鈥�

CHI St. Joseph鈥檚 Children serves hundreds of families with young children. When they got the news about the governor鈥檚 announcement, 鈥淚t was like a sigh of relief,鈥� said Jessa Cowdrey, director of public policy and marketing at St. Joseph鈥檚. Families are juggling a lot between a child care sector that鈥檚 still unstable and the overall cost of living rising with inflation. 鈥淭his really is just finally like catching a little bit of a break.鈥�

It鈥檚 also notable, and important, that virtually all families will receive the benefit. Last year, when the state waived copays for low-income families, it also increased eligibility for subsidies to 350 percent of the federal poverty line. But that meant there were families who qualified for help but still had to pay hefty copays. They were so high that some parents had to pay more than they would have paid directly for child care without the subsidy. By waving copays for everyone at the same time as it expanded eligibility even further, the state took care of the problem 鈥渋n one fell swoop,鈥� said Matthew Henderson, executive director of the education fund at OL脡.

鈥淲hat we did was helpful, but it wasn鈥檛 helpful enough,鈥� Groginsky said. 鈥淲e needed to go further.鈥�

The state has also begun the process of revising its copayment schedule, which hasn鈥檛 been updated in decades, to simplify it and bring costs down for parents so that they鈥檙e not spending more than 7 percent of their incomes on child care. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want them paying a whole mortgage for child care costs every month,鈥� Groginsky said.

Lujan Grisham cost-free child care 鈥渋s the road to a universal child care system.鈥� Groginsky noted that the governor has been advocating for a universal system 鈥渇rom day one,鈥� adding, 鈥淭his is a key part of that move.鈥�

Advocates agree. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so inclusive,鈥� Cowdrey noted. 鈥淭his is basically for the majority of New Mexican families.鈥�

The announcement also holds some good news for New Mexico鈥檚 child care providers, even if they aren鈥檛 receiving direct assistance from it. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always been the case that some parents simply don鈥檛 pay their copays,鈥� Henderson noted. Some parents may not be able to afford them every month or might only be able to afford part of the payment. Providers often eat that cost. But with the state taking over the payment of copays, providers are now assured of getting the money they鈥檙e due. 鈥淚t feels like feeding two birds with one seed,鈥� Groginsky said. Lujan Grisham announced that the state will use an additional $10 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan to offer grants to people who want to expand or create child care centers as a way to increase the supply of slots, with the goal of creating at least 800 new ones. It had also previously begun reimbursing providers based on how much it actually costs to provide child care, not just on the going market rate.

鈥淚t鈥檚 all in,鈥� Groginsky said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e working on all fronts.鈥�

The governor鈥檚 announcement is clearly a reaction to the pandemic, which disrupted child care on a massive level. 鈥淚t became clear the economy would fall apart without child care in the last two years,鈥� said Amber Wallin, executive director of NM Voices for Children. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e not supporting that industry, you can鈥檛 see economic recovery.鈥�

But it鈥檚 also connected to a much longer, larger fight. 鈥淭his really has to be just a first step,鈥� Wallin said. 鈥淭his announcement is part of a decade-long fight to prioritize kids in public policy and to prioritize funding.鈥�

In November, New Mexicans will vote on a ballot measure that would change the state constitution to enshrine a right to education not just for grades K-12, but for children ages zero to five as well. That wouldn鈥檛 just make it the first state in the country with a right to education for young children. It would have a concrete fiscal impact: it would allow the state to begin devoting $125 million a year to early childhood education from its existing Land Grant Permanent Fund, a pot of money funded by billions of dollars the state generates from fees on the public land it holds in trust that already funds K-12 education. In the ten years that advocates have been pushing for the change, the fund has more than doubled in size. The ballot measure will also devote an additional $75 million for older ages.

The governor has relied on a temporary infusion of federal funding from the American Rescue Plan to fund the waiver of copays for most residents this year. But that funding will start to dry up after next year and can鈥檛 sustain such a change in the long-term. 鈥淚f we want to support these types of programs, expansions in early childhood, we need to pass permanent, stable funding,鈥� Wallin said. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 pass the Permanent School Fund, if that funding is not injected into our systems in a long-term sustainable way, that means all these gains we鈥檝e made over the past few years are at risk. Our families are at risk of losing those crucial supports.鈥� Lujan Grisham herself has said she wants to use money from the fund to make universal, free child care permanent. Advocates have also promised to push lawmakers to spend the money on better compensation for child care providers and early childhood educators. They want to ensure a minimum wage of $18 an hour, with a ladder that allows them to continue to move up in pay and achieve parity with K-12 teachers based on their educational credentials and years of experience.

Despite being temporary, the year-long policy change gives New Mexicans a 鈥済limpse,鈥� Cowdrey said, 鈥渙f what our society can look like with free child care.鈥� And that in turn may motivate them to vote in favor of more funding for the sector to keep it going. It could 鈥渇undamentally shift how people think about government,鈥� Wallin said.

The advocates pushing voters to pass the ballot measure in November have been working on the issue for over ten years. To get the question on the ballot, they first had to convince state lawmakers to pass a bill putting it there. Doing so required raising awareness among the state legislature about the importance of development in a child鈥檚 first years of life. They had to overcome a 鈥渉esitancy to try new things,鈥� Cowdrey said. They also had to overcome fiscal conservatism, particularly among 鈥渁 handful of senators who stood in the way who just embraced austerity budgeting,鈥� Henderson said. They did that in part by challenging and defeating those lawmakers who acted as roadblocks through primaries in the 2020 elections. 鈥淚t was the very next legislative session in which we passed it out of the legislature,鈥� Henderson noted.

The campaign to get voters to vote yes is 鈥渁 continuation, a next phase,鈥� Cowdrey said, of the governor鈥檚 announcement. Volunteers are sending text messages, making calls and knocking on people鈥檚 doors. They鈥檙e using social media to get the word out. Parents are speaking out about how it would help to make child care affordable, while providers are advocating for it as a way to get paid adequately for the critical services that they provide.

So far there鈥檚 no organized opposition to passing the ballot measure, although the campaign expects that there may be some lawmakers running for office who decide to oppose it. But voters still have to be educated that the ballot measure even exists and what it could mean. 鈥淚f voters don鈥檛 know about it, don鈥檛 flip over that ballot and vote yes, that鈥檚 a huge loss,鈥� Cowdrey said.

鈥淲e are taking nothing for granted in the next six months,鈥� said Angie Poss, owner of AP Communications LLC, which is working on the campaign. 鈥淭he impact that this could have is not something that we鈥檙e willing to lose.鈥�

Martinez is now volunteering for the campaign to pass the ballot measure. She recently participated in a text bank and sent 1,000 texts to New Mexico voters. She believes that free child care would bring justice to her overlooked community, where she says parents struggle to find good care. 鈥淚 hope that education comes free to all, because a child鈥檚 learning starts at birth,鈥� she said. She wants her state to be the first to assert that idea as a right.

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 社区黑料. Learn more here.