There are many other reasons legislators should obsess over the high cost of child care: because of our high poverty rates, more of our kids need it and fewer working parents can afford it; because preschoolers don’t get Pell Grants, can’t take out a student loan, and don’t qualify for work-study so their parents are stuck with the cost upfront; and because, arguably, high-quality child care is more important to a person’s development than college.
The Governor has no plan to fully fund early learning. The Legislative Finance Committee says it has a plan to phase in more funding over time, but at the rate they’re going, it will be decades before we achieve universal access and the kids who would benefit from these programs today will be parents themselves.
Beginning in 2014, it will no longer be a question of IF you have health care coverage, but HOW you get your coverage. In spite of all the foot dragging, complaining, talk of repealing, and website glitches, health care will soon be available to all citizens of the United States.
Lawmakers talk a lot about accountability when they’re spending taxpayer money on programs and services, and that’s entirely appropriate. We want to get the most from our investments in the state’s human resources, systems, and infrastructure. Programs that don’t work should be overhauled or de-funded. Programs that work well need to be replicated or expanded to better serve unmet needs. Our lawmakers take this part of their job seriously. Too bad the same cannot be said when it comes to lawmakers giving away state revenue in the form of tax breaks.
The massive state tax cut passed by the Legislature had no accountability measures. No triggers, no targets, no claw-backs to ensure that the tax breaks wouldn’t cost the state if they didn’t deliver. Lawmakers reduced the amount of money coming into the state’s budget—money that could have been used to train our future workforce—and instead gave that money to Intel’s shareholders in the hopes that they would expand operations in New Mexico. Not only did Intel not expand operations in New Mexico, the company just announced they are reducing their Rio Rancho workforce by 400 employees. What a kick in the teeth!
When times got tough, my parents never told us we had to do without eyeglasses, visits to the dentist, or enough food. Our health and education were a priority for my parents. So when they couldn’t make ends meet, dad went out and got a second job. When we all got a little older and were in high school and college, mom went back to work. Instead of making us do without, they went out and raised more money to make sure we were healthy and well educated. Not so with New Mexico’s lawmakers.
It’s odd that accountability measures rarely seem to show up in tax bills. And yet, the Legislature has, three times now, demanded the ultimate accountability measure—a tax expenditure report. The Governor, however, who vetoed the tax expenditure bill practically in the same breath that she signed the omnibus tax bill, doesn’t seem to want any accountability at all.
Child care assistance has been lauded by politicians and parents alike as the most effective way to make work pay. New Mexico’s families deserve the opportunity to work with the sense of security knowing their children are not only in a safe place, but spending their day in a place that fosters their intellectual and emotional development.
Media reports on the big tax bill that passed in the closing minutes of the 2013 legislative session noted that while there was little Senate debate and no House debate on the bill, the components of that tax bill had been previously debated in committee. What these media accounts failed to report is that the members of the only committee that actually debated all of those components—the House Taxation and Revenue Committee—voted against the big tax bill 9-5. In other words, those who knew what was in the bill and had studied it clearly didn’t think it was good tax policy.
Even though New Mexico’s economic recovery lags far behind the rest of the nation, fewer and fewer of our low-income children are enrolled in the state-federal health care program New MexiKids (Medicaid and CHIP). In the last month alone, more than 1,200 children lost their health care coverage, according to the state’s monthly enrollment report. Worse, the number of children with coverage has dropped in more months than it has increased under Governor Martinez, and there are fewer children enrolled now than in January 2011 when she took office.