By FOCUS, A Leonine Business
Beginning November 1, New Mexico families will have access to free universal childcare, according to a press release from the office of Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The state plans to remove income eligibility limits, increase reimbursement rates to childcare centers, provide incentives to programs that commit to pay entry-level staff a minimum $18 per hour wage and remain open at least 10 hours per day, and fund the creation and renovation of childcare facilities. Governor Lujan Grisham anticipates that the approach would amount to an average annual family savings of $12,000 per child.
While the news comes as a surprise to many across the country, advocates in New Mexico have been building towards this moment for years. The state’s childcare programming had been lacking — the 2022 Kid Count Data Book ranked the state dead last in overall childhood well-being, factoring in early education and economic attributes. In response, the governor used federal funds to expand free child care to families with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Later in 2022, New Mexico voters overwhelmingly approved Constitutional Amendment 1, which permitted additional funding from the Land Grant Permanent Fund (LGPF) to be withdrawn to fund the expanded early childhood education system. And with the LGPF outperforming its anticipated growth targets, the opportunity to institute free childcare, regardless of household income, was well within reach.
Supporters of the initiative are still facing barriers. The Republican Party of New Mexico opposes the plan, expressing that the program will push the state “into government dependency at a cost of millions of dollars to the taxpayers” and that the program “requires legislation to be passed before becoming permanent law.” Additionally, as new families are able to take part in the initiative, a supply issue emerges. The state still falls far short of the number of childcare centers and licensed home providers necessary to meet demand for the program. And in calculating the amount of money necessary to implement the program, create new facilities, and maintain existing early childhood education costs, some members of the legislature, including the Democratic chair of the New Mexico Senate Finance Committee, believe that the “total price tag might not be sustainable.”
Red and blue states alike face a childcare crisis; Idaho has made cuts to their childcare subsidy program and Oregon passed a budget that does not fully fund early childhood education programming. Could this plan be a blueprint for other states to follow? Will other states have the funding available to adopt a similar approach? FOCUS will continue to monitor developments in early childhood education and childcare in state legislatures across the country.
by Tom O’Connor 9/15/25
