New Mexico becomes first US state to offer free child care, saving $12,000 a year for all families

NEW Mexico has become the first state in the United States to offer free child care to all families, saving them approximately $12,000 a year.

The move has been taken so that the New Mexico families can work, continue education and “lift the state out of poverty.”

Speaking of the free child care for all scheme, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said child care was “the backbone of creating a system of support for families that allows them to work, to go to college, to do all the things they need to do to continue to lift New Mexico out of poverty.”

She said, “Child care is essential to family stability, workforce participation, and New Mexico’s future prosperity. 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.”
What does the free child care program offer?

Under the free child care program in New Mexico, families will receive state vouchers to cover public and private child care fees, regardless of income.

It caps years of effort by New Mexico to expand free child care since the state set up the Early Childhood Education and Care Department in 2019.

Connecticut recently passed a bill making child care free for those families earning under $100,000 per year and no more than 7 per cent of income for those earning more.

New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has proposed no-cost universal child care.
How does it increase savings?

Taos special education teacher Allyson O'Brien expects to save around $12,000 a year in child care bills for her son Otis, who is nearly 2-½, Reuters reported.

She and her husband, Shawn O'Kelly, a truck driver, earn just above New Mexico’s former income limit for free child care – around $129,000 a year for a family of four.

“We'll be able to go on vacation, we won't have to decide what bills we're going to pay, like, are we going to do propane or the mortgage?” O'Brien said.

The state is reportedly establishing a $12.7 million low-interest loan fund to construct, expand, and renovate child care facilities, “with an additional $20 million requested in the Fiscal Year 2027 budget.”

“There will be more centres coming up,” said Alison McPartlon, director of the University of New Mexico-Taos Kids' Campus child care centre, said.

To build the supply of infant and toddler care, New Mexico is “partnering with employers and school districts to expand child care options for working families and also launching a statewide campaign to recruit licensed and registered home providers.”