As a growing number of states establish universal pre-kindergarten programs for 4-year-olds, New Mexico is taking it one step further and offering universal child care—the first in the nation to do so.
Families across the country spend anywhere between 8.9% to 16% of their median income for a full day of care for one child, according to 2022 data from the U.S. Department of Labor. In New Mexico specifically, child care can cost 11.14% of a family’s median income, according to WalletHub.
Families who opt into the new universal child care program in New Mexico can save an average of $12,000 annually, the state estimates. This no-cost program is set to begin on Nov. 1 for infants and toddlers. The state says it will need to recruit an additional 5,000 early childhood professionals to make the program work. To do so, it will pay more to child care programs that commit to paying entry-level staff at least $18 an hour.
Advocates say access to high-quality child care can improve cognitive, language, and social-emotional development, which can better prepare students for kindergarten and beyond.
In a conversation with Education Week, Elizabeth Groginsky, the cabinet secretary for the early childhood education department in New Mexico, discussed the state’s new policy and its rollout. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Why is this universal child care policy important, and why now?
This completes the promise that the governor [Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat] and the [New Mexico] legislature made when they created the [Early Childhood Education and Care] department in 2019, followed by the creation of the Early Childhood Trust Fund.
In [2022], 70% of New Mexico voters said they wanted to see more investments in early childhood education.
We’ve been working toward the universal system—universal pre-K, home visiting, we have a very robust early intervention program, we’ve had expansive child care [for families who are] at the 400% federal poverty level.
[Now this policy] is really completing that universal prenatal-to-5 system for New Mexico families and children.
What do you anticipate will be the benefits and the challenges of universal child care?
We’ve already seen the benefits as we raise the income limit [from] 400% of the federal poverty line. A study was completed by the United Ways of New Mexico that showed 29% of households in the state don’t earn enough to afford necessities, all while earning too much to qualify for assistance. These are our moderate-income families.
Many families in New Mexico are going to benefit from financial relief. We’re going to be able to support our child care providers with rates that reflect the true cost of care, and we’re going to make sure that children have access to healthy, safe, quality learning environments.
The challenges are that we don’t have enough [resources to fill the need for infant and toddler care] currently, but we have a strategy to recruit registered homes. These are typically family, friends, and neighbors who are caring for children; we want to help them. We have a higher rate to pay them to incentivize 1,000 [registered homes]—we hope they can serve up to four children [per home].
We also have a staff family child care network we’ve recently funded, and we’re partnering with them to help expand to 120 more licensed homes. And then we opened an application for a low-interest loan. It has about $13 million that the governor has invested in helping child care programs and people who aren’t licensed yet ... open centers, expand centers, or open a home child care center. We’ve asked the legislature for another $20 million for next year, so we know we have to supply.
We also know we need professionals to do the work. We’ve been very encouraged by the numbers we’re seeing—just one of our central New Mexico colleges, for example, has 900 people enrolled this fall semester in early childhood programs.
We have had 64% growth in our early childhood professionals, while the rest of the country has seen a decline. So we’re optimistic that [if] we build it, they will come, and that we truly have established a professional career here in New Mexico for people caring for young children.
Where is the money coming from to bring no-cost child care into fruition?
We have $463 million in this year’s budget. We received a $113 million increase for the fiscal year 2026 to support child care. Specifically, we received a $250 million increase through the Early Childhood trust fund. That is the most significant funding source for child care. We also have our federal money. We have some general funds. Those are the main sources for child care funding.
We have asked for $20 million [from the state] for the fiscal year 2027 because of the uptake. We’ll start out [with] families who are currently paying for care, [who] will have the opportunity to apply and receive the support from the state to pay for their child care. We anticipate that growth [is] at about 3 to 5% per month over the coming months.
Who is your target audience and how is information available?
The audience[s] are with families in New Mexico who are making choices that are not necessarily helping them realize their full potential as a family—who has to stay home, who can go to work, and how do we do this with the cost of child care being so expensive.
We see all families in New Mexico, but especially families in that low-income, moderate-income [range], which are the majority of New Mexico families, having financial relief. They can invest in a down payment on a house, [secure] reliable transportation, [and] save up for their child’s future.
We have a website, we have a fact sheet, we use our social media, and we use our trusted advisers who are out in the community. We have local early childhood system-building coalitions located throughout the state. They are charged with helping coordinate the “universal prenatal-to-5 system,” and so they are important, trusted messengers working directly with families and working with the providers in the community to make sure that we’re getting the word out, but also expanding access to care and recruiting the workforce that we need to deliver the care.
How can other states replicate the policy?
It’s putting families at the center of your policymaking. There are other revenue streams that states may have that are different than New Mexico, but I think [this work is] important so that we can support families in very important ways, when we see the price of everything going up and people struggling to make ends meet.
I do think it’s something that absolutely can be replicated in other states and needs to be if we’re going to truly be family-centered.
How are school districts involved?
Many of our school districts are looking at building early care and education facilities within their school buildings because they’re in rural communities, [and] they’re concerned about being able to attract and retain quality staff.
We have a couple of school districts who are already looking to go out to bond [elections] or working with their local leaders [to raise the funds]. Here in Santa Fe, they [have] set up child care—it’s been a game changer for them in terms of recruiting and attracting quality staff.
This is an all-in strategy. Industry leaders, our school partners, and our incredible early childhood and child care providers across the state, families—all of us working together to realize a very important public policy, which is universal, no-cost child care.
