Kentucky lawmakers recently heard from New Mexico representatives about the state’s universal childcare. The program guarantees free childcare to all families, regardless of income status.
Elizabeth Groginsky is first cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Early Childhood Education Care Department. She said the program was originally funded by oil and gas revenues. However, Governor Michelle Luhan Gisham quickly shifted sources.
“The second year in her term, she worked with the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and they created the early childhood trust fund, which started with $300 million and now is sitting just shy of $10 billion. And we get interest from that corpus. So, we don’t have $10 billion in our budget, we get 5% of the corpus of that fund or $500 million, whichever is greater,” said Groginsky.
Groginsky said they also use part of the land grant permanent fund.
The state is supporting childcare businesses by offering low interest loans to construct, expand and renovate childcare facilities. Additionally, programs that pay entry-level staff a minimum of $18 per hour and offer 10 hours of care per day, five days a week, receive incentive rates. The state pays the facilities providing care based on the cost of care. This includes paying for employees to have two weeks paid sick leave and two weeks of paid vacation.
New Mexico has offered half day pre-k since 2005, but Groginsky said more needed to be done to help residents be successful.
“We are known, unfortunately for being 50th in things that we don’t want to be 50th in, and that child well-being, child nutrition, poverty, and so the governor and the legislature said we need to do something monumental. We need to do something different to give children and families a stronger start,” said Groginsky.
Universal childcare is expected to save families $12,000 a year per child. The program went into effect on November 1.
Kentucky ranks 36th in child well-being according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.