Source NM--Amber Wallin, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, said issues in education funding go beyond any one election, and officials and New Mexicans need to think about how they can best set up future generations. “We have massive needs in our state and in our schools, in our families that are really generational problems to solve. They’re not election-cycle problems to solve.”
NM Political Report--“We know learning begins at birth. Why not expand the idea of education from kindergarten down to birth? And use the Land Grant Permanent Fund as the source of funding for early childcare funding? That was the original intent,” he said.
Santa Fe New Mexican--“Certainly during the pandemic we saw what a lack of access to child care can do to families and workers and to the workforce and economy,” said Wallin. She said without reliable access to child care programs, many parents — mothers in particular — ended up dropping out of the workforce to care for their kids at home. Child care is “one of the keys to supporting the workforce and economic recovery,” she said.
Santa Fe New Mexican--New Mexico voters can also take action by voting Yes on Constitutional Amendment 1 on the ballot in November. Constitutional Amendment 1 would draw down a small portion of the $26 billion permanent school fund to support high-quality early childhood care and education services - such as home visiting and pre-kindergarten - and services for at-risk students.
Santa Fe New Mexican--“We knew over 10 years ago that we needed to change our educational investments to earlier in a child’s life if we were going to change their trajectory,” said senior research and policy analyst Jacob Vigil. “We knew we needed a lot of money to make that happen, more than likely could be raised in taxes.”
Creators Syndicate--And how about this? New Mexico – ranked as one of the poorest states in the country – has prioritized free child care as an essential need and common good for families, the economy and the state's future. The product of a decadelong grassroots push by groups like New Mexico Voices for Children, the program is open to all 0- to 5-year-olds – and it also provides decent pay (starting at $18 an hour) to attract quality caregivers and instructors. The "Land of Enchantment" has become the Land of Can-do.
The Progressive Magazine--The federal expanded credit “provided really targeted relief to those families that needed it most,” says Amber Wallin, executive director of the advocacy group New Mexico Voices for Children. She adds that beyond simple relief, the income support “create[d] long-term opportunities [for children] to thrive,” as research consistently shows cash-assistance programs for families support children’s health, educational outcomes, and general well-being.
NM Political Report--“What this data reflects is mostly pre-pandemic conditions,” Wallin told NM Political Report. “It’s reflective of the times before all the big policy changes in New Mexico. This data doesn’t capture all the changes we’ve seen in recent years.”
Santa Fe New Mexican--“[The data] doesn’t necessarily reflect many of the policy changes we’ve seen at a state level,” New Mexico Voices for Children Executive Director Amber Wallin said in an interview Monday. “When the data catches up to the policy, we expect to see continued improvement for New Mexico’s children and families.”
Albuquerque Journal--What’s not reflected in the data book is “great policy progress in the past few years that put kids first,” she said, noting a number of legislative changes made from 2019 forward. “Among them are the new child tax credit, the doubling of the tax credit for working families with kids and the expansion of child care systems to most every kid in New Mexico,” she said.