Congratulations On Your Subsidized Child Care, New Mexico!
At least someone's getting good news.
Hey! You know what we never get anymore? Actual good news about a thing that is actually happening and is going to benefit actual human beings. Well, we have some today, because the state of New Mexico is about to become the very first state to provide subsidized child care to all residents, regardless of income.
“Child care is essential to family stability, workforce participation and New Mexico’s future prosperity,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said when announcing the program this week. “By investing in universal child care, we are giving families financial relief, supporting our economy, and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow and thrive.”
Investing in childcare is probably one of the most important things a society can do for itself, for the reasons Lujan Grisham mentioned. It allows parents to work the hours they need to work, creates stable jobs, frees up funds that families can then put back into the economy and, most importantly, sets children up for success. Early childhood education has been proven to have substantial short and long-term benefits on “educational attainment, income, criminal activity, and other important life outcomes, sustained well into adulthood."
The program is expected to save parents over $12,000 a year, which is a lot of money for anyone. Hell, even if you’re a rich person, that is an extra non-special-edition Birkin for you right there. Or 3 to 4 of the Chloë camera bags that I would buy if I won the lottery I never actually play. (I assume all rich people expenses are calculated in handbags.)
Importantly, they’re doing it the smart way — by providing it to all residents, rather than restricting by income level. Not only does this cut down on the administrative costs of ensuring that people meet certain standards and general, overall pain-in-the-assness of income-restricted programs, it also means maintaining the quality of the care the children receive. Shockingly enough, when programs are just for poor people with very little political power, they tend to get neglected and go unnoticed after a while. Programs that are also for the people politicians are more likely to actually listen to have a far greater chance of success. This is why one of the biggest problems with school voucher programs and charter schools is the loss for public schools of parents who have the time, money, or influence to push for funding or to raise a stink when things are going poorly.
But wait! It gets better!
Via The 19th:
The news also comes with improvements for child care facilities and, potentially, raises for their staff. As part of the rollout, the state will establish a $13 million loan fund to construct and expand facilities, launch a recruitment campaign for home-based providers and incentivize programs to pay staff a minimum of $18 an hour.
That’s pretty nice, considering that the average childcare worker in New Mexico currently makes $15.42 per hour.
You may be wondering “But can they afford all that?!?” They can! And for the most delicious reason possible. You see, back in 2020, the state took $320 million and established a specific fund for early childhood education. Then, in 2022, New Mexicans voted for a constitutional amendment requiring that some of the state’s Land Grant Permanent Fund (which is funded by taxes on oil and gas companies) go to support early childhood education. Now, the fund they initially set up is worth $10 billion.
They are taxing oil and gas companies and getting universal child care out of it, which feels … very satisfying.
Naturally, Republicans are whining about how these programs should be reserved for the very, very needy and most at risk, because they don’t actually understand how these things work.
Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, who founded an early childhood nonprofit organization, questioned whether the state should provide free child care for higher-income New Mexicans.
She said such investments should instead be targeted at the 20% or so of children in the state most at risk of child abuse and neglect.
“We now have universal vouchers for child care,” Dow said in a Monday interview. “How does this make sense in any way, shape or form?”
First of all, I’m going to need to point out that children of all income levels can be subjected to child abuse and neglect, just as parents of all income levels can be loving and kind. Second, what is the point of having vouchers if child care is universal? It’s just more paperwork.
Third, income restrictions are a bad idea for the reasons I listed above, but also because they mean that a parent has to worry that getting a raise, a promotion or a better job could mean going broke paying for child care, and that’s not how things should work.
But let’s ignore Rep. Dow for the moment and focus on the fact that if New Mexico pulls this off (which I believe they will), it will serve as a template for the rest of the states. Well, the states where people care about other people’s children, anyway. I’m certainly excited to see how it turns out and incredibly happy for New Mexico parents who will no longer have that stress to deal with.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
Guys re the Charlie Kirk news, please remember The Rules. https://www.wonkette.com/p/rules-for-commenting-radicals
NOT linking it to income is the way. 100%.
Minneapolis began to offer free breakfast to ALL kids in school when my kids were elementary aged. We are fortunate people. We didn't qualify for free/reduced lunch. We sent them to school with a lunch, and they'd had breakfast at home.
So my son wasn't going for the free breakfast. He wasn't hungry, and he thought it wasn't meant for him.
His teacher pulled me aside and asked me to ask my son to go eat the breakfast. She said, "All the kids like and respect your son, he's a natural leader. If he goes, the rest will go, and that will remove any of the stigma."
I'd never thought of it that way; I was in the old mode where I had qualified as a kid and it was stigmatized. So, knowing we didn't qualify, I knew why my son wasn't eating the the breakfast.
I explained to him just what his teacher had told me, and he agreed that there was a stigma; and if it was OK for him to go eat the breakfast and encourage everyone to go; he'd be happy to do that.
He did; the teachers told me it worked.
The boy was only 8 years old and had that level of understanding of how things like this work.
It isn't just my kid. Kids These Days? They're So Damn Good.