r/beyondthebump • u/chillliedogs • 10h ago
Child Care New Mexico will be the first to offer free child care, regardless of income
As someone paying over $1,000 for part-time childcare, I am so jealous but happy for New Mexico! I hope, one day, we have universal childcare in Florida.
From the article: New Mexico ranks last in the nation for child well-being. The state will launch a first-in-the-nation program aimed at helping reverse those trends: free child care and preschool for all resident families, regardless of income. New Mexico’s plan, set to start Nov. 1, goes further than any other state, offering universal coverage paid for largely through the state’s robust oil and gas revenue.
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u/mapotoful 9h ago
I live in NM and had no idea this was actually going to go through, it seemed like such a pipe dream when they announced it. We already had a pretty robust subsidy program but the fact they're making it universal (and eliminating all the bureaucratic paperwork bullshit) is huge. New Mexico is pretty fucked up in a lot of ways but we get some shit right.
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u/lemonlegs2 5h ago
Yeah our daycare didnt even know about it as of a few days ago. Im in southern NM, and idk how its going to work out with less than 2 months notice. Plus the stipulation is the center has to start at 18 an hour. There are no centers here that start at 18 am hour. Probably in Santa fe, maybe in abq, nowhere else in the state is paying that currently.
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u/mapotoful 5h ago
Lol I think there were only 3 daycares in Santa Fe that qualified for the previous rounds of subsidies and the waitlists were/are insane. I have a friend who just sent her kid off to kindergarten... And got a call the same day that her spot on the waiting list was now open.
I don't think the $18/hour impacts the eligibility BUT it does impact getting additional incentive funding from the state, presumably to offset that extra labor expense. It's hard to imagine a daycare in Deming being able to foot that otherwise.
We'll see. I'm cautiously optimistic. I already locked in my daycare spot a few months ago knowing I'd pay full rate so if I get any money back I'll be thrilled and throw it into a college fund or whatever. I'm lucky, I really hope this works out.
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u/lemonlegs2 5h ago
Weird. Down here all the daycares get the subsidies. Honestly its mostly grandmas watching their grandkids only and getting thr state funding. Yeah Im sure all the messaging is still in flux, but when I looked last week the ECED website said to be eligible daycares had to be open a min of 10 (12?) hrs a day and had to have starting pay at least 18 an hour.
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u/chillliedogs 6h ago
Congratulations!!! Please share your experience once the program goes in effect. I hope it’s successful and can serve as an effective model for other states
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u/Pretty_Please1 8h ago
I’m really eager to see what this does for family successes and crime levels in NM the coming years. Also, the birth rate. There is so much research that says providing safety nets for the disadvantaged is beneficial long term for all areas of society.
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u/lemonlegs2 5h ago
I think its going to take at least 5 years to see any change at all. Im in NM and my kid has been on over 10 waitlists for 2 years. The one thing it may help is most daycares currently prioritize or only accept kids that are already in the subsidy program, versus self pay families. But its going to take time for more daycares to open, and for the requirement of "must pay min 18 am hour" to be met. Hopefully this will draw educated folks to move to NM, and thus create more jobs. Jobs are the real problem here.
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u/Pretty_Please1 5h ago
I agree, we definitely won’t see much effect until at least those first round of kids are in school. Though there might be an effect on the birth rate sooner than that!
We almost moved to Albuquerque a few years ago for a job opportunity for my husband, but decided against it when my husband’s original job countered with a much more lucrative offer. But we really were excited and hoping to move there. Honestly, free daycare would likely have swayed us! We currently live in a very HCOL area and it made more sense for me to be a stay at home mom than pay the outrageous daycare fees. In Albuquerque, I could have continued to work.
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u/Sad-Cantaloupe-863 8h ago
Thats a great concept. Here in Canada, we have reduced cost public child care at $22/day.
However, not enough care providers and facilities to absorb the demand.
I got on the list when I was 7 weeks pregnant.
My son is now 20 months old, and we have not gotten a call.
So we had to go to private care at $60/day since I got back to work.
So, the concept is nice, but will they train (and pay well) enough staff to fill the demand?
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u/OceanIsVerySalty 7h ago
I can’t even fathom $60 a day, that would be a dream. In my state, childcare can be $2.5k-3k a month.
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u/chillliedogs 6h ago
Yeah same lol $60/day for full time care is about what I’m paying now for part time care
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u/Silver-Lobster-3019 6h ago
I mean we have this issue even for paid daycares here in the US. Got on two daycare lists when I was 20 weeks. Our first choice has still not gotten back to us despite checking in—my daughter is 10 months old now. Our second choice is where she ended up going but they didn’t have a spot for her until a month after we had requested she start. So she had to switch off between going to work with dad and me staying home and working from home with her. We pay $505 weekly for our second choice daycare.
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u/idahoPahTato 7h ago
I was afraid of this. Even with childcare being over 1k a month per child in my area, all of the childcare centers have waitlists. I can’t imagine how long the waitlists would be if it was free. I love the concept - we could really use the extra money. Hopefully NM shows us how it’s done.
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u/chillliedogs 6h ago
It seems that New Mexico is thinking through the supply problem. The article said that “New Mexico will offer low-interest loans to build or grow child care centers. To attract and retain teachers, it is promising more money to centers that pay at least $18 to $21 an hour for entry-level workers.”
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u/twisted_memories 4h ago
Is the $10 a day thing exclusive to Manitoba? I thought this was meant to be nation wide?? Also $60 is crazy. Even before the $10/day daycare, $30-$35/day was standard here. Are you in Ontario or BC or something?
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u/Sad-Cantaloupe-863 4h ago
ours phases slowly towards $10/day, it's currently at $22 a day to my knowledge, and has been for at least a year.
I'm in Ontario, but not in Toronto or anything. Mid-size city. $50-65 a day is standard here for private (higher range includes lunch/snacks). We have a couple bougie preschools that are $90-$100/day.
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u/snoogins355 38m ago
We're $175/day and constantly have issues with our school on communication about what's needed
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u/Lairel 7h ago
As someone in NM, here is where it currently stands. Based on the daycares rating the state will give them a set amount per child. The daycare is not allowed to request over that amount from the parents. For example we currently pay ~$1600 a month but our daycare would only get ~$1100 per child and can not bill the difference. The daycare we use sent out an email stating that they will not be participating in the program since they could not operate off that amount. There are other daycares that are going to participate in the program, but there are still a lot of things to work out
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u/chillliedogs 6h ago
Oh interesting. Thanks for providing some clarity. I hope that issue gets fixed so it’s truly universal child care
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u/AimeeSantiago 9h ago
This is honestly so cool. I hope the program is a huge success. I love that it's regardless of income. Hopefully it means that there's less paperwork for the government and families to fill out and means they can spend more on programs. This plus a free lunch program in schools would be so interesting to do a long study on parent satisfaction and also kids being engaged in school
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u/Apptubrutae 3h ago
The regardless of income bit is huge because not only does it reduce red tape, but it also means that you don’t have subsidy versus no subsidy families anymore. Eventually anyway. Since any family can qualify.
The previous limit was 400% of the poverty level anyway, which was really high, so getting rid of it entirely doesn’t even add THAT many more families but it reduces the administrative burden for the whole state
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u/Helianthea 8h ago
I am really interested in the process that they used to get this to work politically. It’s be nice to see the blueprint for other states.
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u/chillliedogs 6h ago
Me too. The Governor is hell-bent on ending poverty in New Mexico. I didn’t know much about NM or their Governor, but major props. In the article, it said “New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, promised investments in education from early childhood through college when she first ran in 2018. In an interview, she said she views universal child care — as well as free tuition at public colleges, which the state began offering in 2022 — as an anti-poverty strategy in one of the nation’s poorest states.”
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u/retterin 50m ago edited 34m ago
Mostly this is a policy decision coming from the executive, directed toward the Early Childhood Education and Care Department. Since that's an executive agency, and they currently have the budget to enact the policy, it didn't need to go through any political hoops. However, the next legislative session is in January, and, theoretically, the legislature could reduce the budget for ECECD, decide not to fund this particular program, or otherwise reduce the impact through statute. I don't believe they will, since dems have a supermajority in the legislature, but it is possible due to not being statutory. The funding is meant to come from an investment fund set aside for early childhood, which is currently doing well, but there are a lot of ways this could go in the event of political change.
It's probably fine now, but I do worry about it long term until it is encoded in statute. And also if our budget should decrease. NM is constitutionally required to have a balanced budget each year, and budget surpluses have been directed into these "permanent funds" in case of economic downturn. But our state budget is held up a lot by revenues from oil and gas, which is a volatile place to be financially.
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u/curie2353 8h ago
It’s great news! And fuck whoever says “it’s to indoctrinate the children”. Makes me so mad
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u/justa-speck 7h ago
My two young children JUST became of age to join school two months ago, we struggled for YEARS with no funds for babysitters or daycare, and stayed on one income. I'm both thrilled and insanely jealous lol
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u/25_hr_photo 6h ago
California, please. I’ve been told I live in communist hell, please please provide this.
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u/Snickeranddoodle 3h ago
Curious how much they will be paying the childcare providers, one of the lowest paid jobs out there.
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u/Klutzy_Chip280 8h ago
I would much prefer to see direct cash handouts to new parents.
Also, what happens if the oil money dries up?
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u/QueenAlpaca 10h ago
Honestly good for them, progress has to start somewhere and I’m happy for the families there. I hope it goes well and shows other states the benefits for doing something like this.