I’ve decided it’s enough to highlight ideas worth trying if problems are being newly addressed, but it’s also a pleasure to be able to share how those ideas are working out. Three years ago I highlighted New Mexico’s commitment expanding eligibility for child care assistance to a broader range of people and enacting a constitutional provision guaranteeing the right to early childhood education. Grants were also made available to raise child care workers’ wages, helping even smaller providers to survive financially.
Recently it was announced that, while there is still much room to improve, these programs have helped raise 120,000 people above the poverty line, including some child care workers and providers themselves. While many states used COVID-era funds to support child care and early childhood education initiatives, few have found ways to convert financing for those programs to a sustainable source. In the case of New Mexico, the answer for now was to use a portion of the Land Grand Permanent Fund, which relies on taxes from fossil fuel revenue, while continuing to explore alternative options if and when those revenues decline.
This approach has broader reach than tax incentives to encourage and enable employers, mostly large employers, to provide employee assistance or to subsidize the development of large scale incentive that work best in population dense areas.
Short term, more people can find the stability to participate effectively in the workforce; long-term, children are getting access to learning opportunities that will set them up for success in school and beyond.
Real more details about the results to date in this article