New Mexico’s free child care program is bringing relief millions of U.S. families need

SANTA FE, NM – Tens of millions of voters have already cast ballots, with living expenses. For many families, childcare is often the biggest concern.

Maggie Wright-Oviedo and her husband JJ Oviedo live in Santa Fe with their two young children, baby Patricio and baby Uriel. Thanks to a government program during the pandemic recovery, they do not pay for childcare.

“If it wasn’t for this, we would be struggling, and this is what we’re making it through,” said Wright-Oviedo, 41, who is both a home nurse and a prison aid worker, while JJ, 42, works on a family ranch, cleans carpets for a local company and is a musician. “That’s the difference,” he said. “That’s the key.”

It’s a signature policy victory for Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who campaigned on the issue in 2018 and is up for re-election in 2022 — and an outcome both presidential campaigns have said they want to achieve in one form or another for households. nationwide.

Vice President Kamala Harris proposes capping child care costs at 7% of income for working families. Expanded child tax credit of up to $6,000 for those with newborn babies. Former President Donald Trump has not released a specific bill, but he has said the revenue would come from steeper tariffs “care” for childcare costs – perspective many economists suspect; his running mate, who Supports the $5,000 child tax creditoffered relatives can help more.

Experts say the New Mexico program is still new and would be difficult to replicate nationally or in other states without a steady source of funding. But its early successes — and bipartisan popularity — show how transformative a widespread government subsidy can be for young families.

Under a constitutional amendment approved by 70% of voters two years ago, 1.25% of the state’s market value at the end of the year Land Grant Permanent Fund is leaving now towards early childhood and public school education. Created when New Mexico became a state in 1912, the fund is funded by taxes on revenues from non-renewable resources, mainly oil and gas.

State officials estimate that the permanent fund now spends more than $150 million on child care subsidies from fossil fuel producers. Residents earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level, or annual household incomes of approximately $124,000, are now eligible for free child care and any existing co-pays are waived. With the state median household income is $62,000 about half of that cut, now more than 30,000 families benefit.

Elizabeth Groginsky, Lujan Grisham’s first secretary of the state Department of Early Childhood Education and Care, said the program is already paying dividends for New Mexico’s economy.

The assistance “helps parents and caregivers join or stay in the workforce, continue their education, develop professionally, save for a down payment on a home and build financial stability,” she said, adding that labor force participation among young mothers is increasing. children have “progressed well above the national average” since the funding was implemented.

Child care costs for middle-class households in the United States typically range between 8%-19% of household income per childAbove the federally recommended maximum of 7%, according to Labor Department estimates. While prices stabilized last year, the average family paid about $11,600 in child care In 2023 — the advocacy group Child Care Aware of America estimates that 10% of the salary of a middle-income married family and 32% of the salary of a middle-income single parent.

Without the support, Wright-Oviedo said her family would spend $2,600 a month on childcare, consuming at least half of her take-home pay. When she found out that the ballot was passed, she recalled: “I cried. It was very comfortable because we didn’t know how to do it.”

Her family is still living paycheck to paycheck, she said, but for the first time, they’ve started to pay off student loans and debt from maternity leave and recently bought a reliable car. They are renting from relatives but hope to start building their own house soon.

While Wright-Oviedo no longer worries about child care costs, she still supports Harris, citing health care offerings. medical debt forgiveness for millions of people expanding coverage for home care and expanding efforts to lower drug prices.

Wright-Oviedo said her older relatives are still independent, but she admitted she’s on top. The “sandwich generation” discussed by Harris — those who care for children and elderly parents at the same time. as Elderly care costs continue to outpace inflationThe Democratic ticket sees that district as the key to victory.

“Our beloved mothers are in their late 70s,” Wright-Oviedo noted, and many of her relatives are already “scrambling” for their financial needs. “Anyone who cares for babies and toddlers knows that you can’t just hand over a baby and toddler to your aging parent and say, ‘Okay, see you in eight hours,'” she said.

Taryn Morrissey, a professor of public policy at American University’s School of Public Affairs, says scaling up the New Mexico model may not be easy. The state’s donation is unique and “other places just don’t have the funds for it,” he said.

“There are other states that contribute their state and local funds to child care subsidies either to expand eligibility or to increase reimbursement rates to pay for high-quality care,” Morrissey said, “but it’s expensive.”

The New Mexico program also made permanent wage increases for day care workers originally funded by temporary federal pandemic aid. The governor’s office says entry-level workers earn at least $15 an hour and teachers $20 an hour — about a 30% increase.

“Before the change, many teachers had to work a second job at a fast-food restaurant, and that wasn’t good,” said Deyanira Contreras, director of Santa Fe Kids Campus, an early childhood education provider where more than 90% of children attend. families are eligible for free childcare.

Kids Campus pre-K lead teacher Randy Orona-Torres was waiting in line at McDonald’s. Now she earns an extra $7 an hour, and thanks to scholarship money from the state early childhood department, she pays for her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. “I don’t see [teaching] like a struggle,” he said.

Contreras said teachers at Children’s Campus now earn more than New Mexico public school teachers. Those with a bachelor’s degree can earn $59,000 a year, and those with a master’s degree can earn $65,000.

“People used to think early childhood educators were like nannies, but now they’re giving us the right treatment,” Orona-Torres said. “We are also educators.”