New Mexico will become the first state in the country to begin offering free universal child care, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced.
The move amounts to an expansion of an existing program that went into effect three years ago that has aided thousands of families in the state.
“Child care is essential to family stability, workforce participation, and New Mexico’s future prosperity,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement announcing the expanded program Monday. “By investing in universal child care, we are giving families financial relief, supporting our economy, and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow and thrive.”
Starting in November, the state will offer child care, or reimbursement for child care costs, to every family in the state, regardless of income. Lujan Grisham’s office said the program’s expansion will save families in the state $12,000 per child per year on average.
In announcing the initiative, New Mexico will become the first state to guarantee universal child care, though other Democratic-led states have also greatly expanded universal early childhood education in recent years. The program may offer a blueprint for other states on an issue that was prominent during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Lujan Grisham campaigned on the issue during her first run for governor in 2018 and enacted, along with the Democratic-controlled Legislature, the Early Childhood Education and Care Department in 2019.
In 2022, voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to allocate a portion of the state’s Land Grant Permanent Fund — a century-old endowment largely funded by taxes on oil and gas reserves — toward funding early childhood and public school education.
That move allowed the new department to begin offering free child care to most families in the state. Under the program, New Mexico residents earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level, or annual household incomes of about $124,000, qualified for free child care, with any existing co-pays waived.
This week’s announced expansion will establish a new $13-million fund to construct new and expand and renovate existing child care facilities. Lujan Grisham said her budget next year will seek to expand the fund.
Neal Halfon, a professor of pediatrics, public health and public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, lauded the expansion in a statement provided by Lujan Grisham’s office as “a model for the nation” — though such a program would be difficult in fund in many other states.
“New Mexico is creating the conditions for better outcomes in health, learning, and well-being,” he added.
