Commentary: It’s heart-breaking to see how New Mexico cares for its children. We rank last in child well-being, and first for childhood trauma. The fact that our state is poor, is in fact a poor excuse. Children are our most precious resource, and we have both the ways and the means to improve their care.
One way involves the “essential workers,” who care for and teach the 62 percent of New Mexico’s children who live in households where both parents work. In turn, the costs of caring for these children eats up a third of the working family’s income. Yet, child care workers made a median wage of $9.66 an hour in 2017. That year, the median wage for preschool teachers was $12.89 an hour, a two percent decrease from 2015.
The means to improving the outcome for these kids is in the hands of New Mexico’s 2021 New Mexico Legislature. Simply, House Joint Resolution1 (HJR1) will provide a 1 per cent increase (about $180 million) to the Common School fund for programs related to early childhood education and care. The money would come from New Mexico’s Land Grant Permanent Fund, which is worth about $20.8 billion.
The Land Grant fund is governed by the people of New Mexico, and any changes such as proposed in the resolution (HJR1) requires voter approval. Recent polls show 75 per cent of voters will support the 1 per cent increase. Our children deserve our support and quality child care workers and teachers.
They’re essential.