Excerpts
New Mexico on Saturday became the first U.S. state to offer free child care to all residents in a bid to boost its economy and lift education and child welfare levels ranked the worst in the country.
Under the program, families, regardless of income, can receive state vouchers to cover public and private child care fees. It culminates efforts New Mexico has made to expand access to free child care since the governor and state legislature created the Early Childhood Education and Care Department in 2019.
The launch comes as other Democratic-run states, cities and counties eye a step popular among working families. Connecticut recently passed a bill making child care free for those families earning under $100,000 per year and no more than 7% of income for those earning more. New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has proposed no-cost universal child care.
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Addressing poverty
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham told reporters child care was “the backbone of creating a system of support for families that allows them to work, to go to college, to do all the things they need to do to continue to lift New Mexico out of poverty.”
Nearly 18% of New Mexicans live below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census, making it one of the poorest states.
Slightly larger in area than the United Kingdom, with only 2.1 million people, the state will fund universal child care — estimated to cost $600 million annually — largely with interest from its Early Childhood Education and Care Fund.
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Research shows quality child care lifts education outcomes, especially among low-income families, according to Philip Fisher, a professor of early childhood learning at Stanford University.
Reading levels of New Mexican students fall far below the national average when children are first tested around age 8 or 9, according to studies by Neal Halfon, professor of pediatrics at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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