early childhood education

As the cost of childcare continues to rise nationwide, New Mexico has made major strides in expanding eligibility and stabilizing the struggling industry. And that bodes well for its future amidst federal funding rollbacks.

Childcare is expensive. But in New Mexico, the Early Childhood Education and Care Department provides subsidies to help contractors meet the needs of many families. All programs that provide the same services in the same type of facility for the same age groups get the same amount, but for-profit providers pay tax on those state dollars that nonprofit and government programs do not. Private providers are now asking the state Legislature to change that.

New Mexico voters approved a constitutional amendment in November that will start funneling $230 million more to early childhood education. However, that money won’t be seen for a while. The Early Childhood and Care Department has set a five-year plan to build a more robust workforce and provide competitive salaries in order to sustain the state’s early childhood education sector.

On this week’s Let's Talk New Mexico, we look at what happens next now that voters approved a constitutional amendment to funnel more money from the Land Grant Permanent Fund into early childhood education and public schools.

Voters in the November election will have the option to approve Constitutional Amendment 1, which would invest money from a state trust, in our youngest children and public school systems. The Land Grant Permanent Fund is the second wealthiest fund in the country and advocates have pushed for years to use more of the money to address New Mexico’s historically low child wellbeing rankings.

Let’s Talk New Mexico 7/29 8am: Have you had trouble finding affordable child care? You’re not alone. Child care can cost over $20,000 a year in New…

State lawmakers kicked off the 2021 New Mexico legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 19. KUNM’s Nash Jones spoke with James Barron, education reporter with…

This week, New Mexico voters blew past turnout records of years past, and pushed the state Senate further to the left. That means that in the next…

The 2020 legislative session is over. Gene Grant, host of New Mexico In Focus, recaps the biggest moments and topics, like the red-flag law (which…

We are halfway through the legislative session and thought it would be a great idea if Kevin McDonald, Executive Producer for New Mexico PBS stopped by…