OPINION: The next governor will inherit the investments. Our children will live the results

New Mexico has made historic investments in children. But investments are promises, not outcomes.

New Mexico has taken a bold approach to investing in children and families. The state now provides free school meals to every public school student, expands Medicaid, makes childcare available without income limits, increases funding for public education and uses its extraordinary public resources to help protect families from rising costs.

Those achievements matter. But passing a policy and funding a program are only the beginning.

For children, governance is not a budget line or a political talking point. It is a hot meal when they are hungry, a doctor when they are sick, a classroom where they can learn and belong, a childcare provider their family can actually access, and a safe and stable home when they are in state custody.

The standard by which we judge our government’s effectiveness should be: Are families better off because of the follow-through on investments have been made?