If this isn’t “dire straits” then I don’t know what is
Our state's Permanent Fund has grown to $15 billion while child well-being has plummeted to 49th in the nation. But a lawmakers thinks that’s not dire?
Our state's Permanent Fund has grown to $15 billion while child well-being has plummeted to 49th in the nation. But a lawmakers thinks that’s not dire?
Imagine we were building our public education system from scratch. Summer vacations and early childhood education are among the aspects that we’d likely change.
Given the news out of the Legislature, you’d think we’ve been rapidly expanding the early childhood services that will improve school outcomes. Actually, fewer children are receiving these services today than did five years ago.
Dr. Arthur Rolnick—the keynote speaker at our 2014 NM KIDS COUNT Conference—made a compelling case for higher levels of investment in early childhood care and learning services. Many people in New Mexico agree that these kind of investments will help us improve the well-being of our children. Unfortunately, there has not been a consensus in Santa Fe on how to pay for these programs.
A recent report from the State Investment Council shows that New Mexico’s Land Grant Permanent Fund (LGPF) is growing at a robust pace and now exceeds $13.8 billion. It’s the second largest fund of its kind in the nation and we spend a small portion of it every year on education and other important services. Meanwhile, New Mexico remains the worst state in which to raise a child. Only a small fraction of our youngest children have access to the high-quality early childhood care and learning services that are shown to improve their outcomes all the way into adulthood.
The 2014 national KIDS COUNT ranking of states in child well-being just came out. There was a lot of uproar last year when, for the first time ever, New Mexico was ranked dead last—a position that had always been reserved for Mississippi. This year, Mississippi is back in 50th and we are ranked 49th. That’s good news, surely, but we have to ask ourselves … is it just a statistical fluke? Or, could our state possibly be starting to make progress in improving children’s lives? And, if this is so, can we sustain this movement?
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.
Students in New Mexico and across the country are now facing bigger hurdles than ever when it comes to financing their college educations. As states cut higher education funding, universities raise tuition and fees. As costs go up, students—especially those that are low-income—are forced to finance their education through loans. Growing student loan debt is made more difficult to repay due to rising interest rates. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, these barriers build on one another and are threatening to run over college students.
On this Mother’s Day, the staff at New Mexico Voices for Children wanted to tip our hats to all of the moms out there and celebrate them for doing all they do. As a working new mom myself, I thought we might also talk about some of the unique challenges that moms who work outside the home face. Working mothers are now the primary or co-breadwinners for two-thirds of American families.
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.