Carlsbad Current-Argus--“When oil and gas companies waste resources, the state loses critical tax and royalty revenue and families and children suffer from the loss of investment in schools and other critical public services,” Wallin said.
Carlsbad Current-Argus--Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, which include extreme heat, poor air quality, drought, flooding, and wildfires. However, this legislative session, lawmakers have the opportunity to protect New Mexicans from these threats to public health by passing the Public Health and Climate Resiliency Act.
Fact Sheet In New Mexico, the personal income tax is an underutilized tool to raise consistent, sustainable revenue and advance racial equity. This fact sheet looks at how our state and local tax system is upside down. (State-level data on effective tax rates by income levels.)
“Our report is not warning of doom and gloom, but rather urging policymakers to strike while the iron is hot and to prepare for the downturn now while excess state revenue and federal opportunity allows for decisive and impactful action toward revenue diversification.”
“This state-level Child Tax Credit (CTC) will be a big help to New Mexico’s working families and increasing the amount for families who are paid low incomes will truly target the credit to where it’s most needed. We also need to make the credit permanent."
NM Political Report--New Mexico continues to sit last in the U.S. for reading and math proficiency but the rates of those proficiencies over the long term have improved at a higher rate when compared to the U.S. rates, Wildau said. “It’s not as high as we’d like but we have seen improvements. And the number of improvements are stronger over the long term than the U.S. as a whole,” Wildau said.
Associated Press--The advocacy group New Mexico Voices for Children is pushing for lawmakers to increase by nearly four-fold an existing state $175 child tax credit, saying that would help to offset the loss of the extra federal benefits and address the continued financial fallout from the pandemic for low-income families.
Santa Fe New Mexican--On a positive note, more young New Mexicans are enrolled in prekindergarten programs than at any time in the past decade, the 2022 data shows. Wallin attributed this change to recent investments in New Mexico’s early education system: It’s “one of our strong suits.”
NM KIDS COUNT Data Book Given the pandemic, child well-being could have taken a great tumble. But, thanks to smart investments at both the state and federal levels, data from 2021 reflect no significant declines – and even some slight improvement. This annual report provides data on numerous child well-being indicators related to economic security, education, health, and family and community, and includes policy solutions. (State-, county-, tribal- and school district-level data on child well-being.)
Indicators in which New Mexico saw some improvement in recent years included young children not enrolled in preschool, high school students not graduating on time, babies born at a low birthweight, and teen birth rates. Big challenges remain for New Mexico children, including poverty and food insecurity.