How New Mexico Tackled a Child Care Crisis

Even if we can't copy the New Mexico model, we can at least take inspiration

One of the goals of the Civic Capacity project is not only chronicle the story of those events that are impacting our community, but also find and share stories from other places that are facing the same struggles we are here in our own hometowns. Granted, we can’t necessarily take a model from another place and simply place it here and make it run. No two places are alike. There are different contexts, different ideals, different values.

Inspiration from Other Places with Bigger Challenges

But, if these stories can’t always provide a model, they can at least provide some degree of inspiration; if other communities have solved large issues, perhaps our own communities can do the same here. Today is one of those editions when we widen our lens and look at another place where a daunting challenge was overcome.

While it is a state with abundant natural beauty, New Mexico is rarely regarded as a well-maintained state. Plagued by high rates of violent crime, a crumbling infrastructure and a relatively high poverty rate, New Mexico has plenty of short-term and long-term challenges. However, one area in which this downtrodden state has made significant strides is in child care.

In fact, the High Country News, a news website, out of Colorado, recently reported on how the state has made huge strides in child care, and it was a story that I immediately took notice. You can read the story here.

New Mexico's ambitious child care initiative offers valuable insights, as the state understood that child care challenges were having huge impacts on workforce participation. Today, this publication will examine the key elements of New Mexico's approach and their potential implications for our own hometowns here in Ohio.

New Mexico dramatically increased access to child care subsidies by raising the income threshold to 400% of the poverty line, making roughly half of the state's children eligible. For our own communities, this suggests that expanding eligibility criteria could allow more families to access affordable child care, potentially bringing more parents into the workforce. In addition, New Mexico's waiver of all co-pays made child care free for qualified families. One wonders if our own state should consider similar measures to reduce financial barriers for working parents.

New Mexico's approach to funding offers important lessons. The state established an Early Childhood Trust Fund and allocated a portion of its Land Grant Permanent Fund to early childhood education. The state, or even local governments, could explore creating dedicated funding streams to ensure long-term sustainability of child care initiatives. While our state, and our localities, may not have oil and gas revenues, the principle of creating stable funding sources that can weather economic fluctuations is valuable.

New Mexico's focus on improving conditions for child care providers is particularly relevant. The state now bases subsidy reimbursement rates on the actual cost of providing care. This model could help attract and retain quality providers. Higher reimbursements for centers with lower staff-to-child ratios incentivize quality care. There could be opportunities to implement similar quality-based incentives. New Mexico's reimbursement rates are based on child care workers earning at least $15 an hour. Addressing low wages in the sector would definitely help tackle worker shortages and improve care quality.

New Mexico's creation of a dedicated Early Childhood Education and Care Department streamlined administration. Our own communities could consider ways to centralize and streamline its child care-related services and policies.

What Should Our Goals Be?

The implications for our own hometowns could be potentially significant. By significantly reducing child care costs, our hometowns could see increased workforce participation, particularly among women and low-income families. Improved access to child care could stimulate local economic growth by enabling more parents to work and increasing disposable income. High-quality early childhood education can lead to better long-term outcomes for children, potentially reducing future social service costs.

Cost-based reimbursement and quality incentives could help stabilize the child care sector, addressing shortages and improving quality. Focusing on improving wages and working conditions in the child care sector could address economic equity issues, as this workforce often comprises women and minorities.

There should be consideration of long-term, sustainable funding mechanisms on both the state and local levels to support ongoing child care initiatives. Building public support through education and outreach, as New Mexico did, could be crucial for implementing significant changes.

Even our local communities should consider conducting studies and forming task forces to gather data and build evidence-based policies, and it should be noted that this work, often led by service providers and the non-profit sector, with considerable government support, is currently underway.

Bringing It All Together

Addressing child care as part of a broader strategy to improve child well-being could yield significant long-term benefits for our communities. While our communities do not have the same resources or political, economic or cultural landscape as New Mexico, the core principles of expanding access, improving affordability, supporting providers, and creating sustainable funding mechanisms are highly relevant. Our approach should be tailored to its specific needs and resources, adapting elements of New Mexico's model as appropriate.

By looking at child care challenges comprehensively, our local communities have the potential to significantly boost workforce participation, support child development, and foster long-term economic growth. The lessons from New Mexico's initiative provide a valuable blueprint to consider as it seeks to address its own child care concerns and strengthen its community and economy.

What Do You Think?

Is childcare an issue in our communities? Is a lack of childcare keeping people out of the workforce? Our paid subscribers are more than welcome to leave their ideas and insights in the comment thread!

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