Once again, some in the Legislature want to continue this slow-drip process for funding early childhood care and education services. Unfortunately, the Legislative Finance Committee budget recommendation is far below the investments needed in the programs that matter most to New Mexico kids and families and far below the responsible recommendations made by Governor Lujan Grisham.
New Mexico could lose an estimated $146 million in federal funds if the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is able to implement rules it promulgated regarding government benefits, including nutrition and health care services. That lack of federal funds would translate to a loss to the state’s gross domestic product (GDP) of as much as $285 million, as well as 1,937 jobs, and $17 million in state tax revenue. That’s according to a policy brief co-released today by the Fiscal Policy Institute of New York and New Mexico Voices for Children.
Between 2008 and 2018 New Mexico cut state support by $4,030 per student (when adjusted for inflation) – the third deepest cuts per-student of state support in the nation. That’s according to a report released today by the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Most New Mexico families with children – 70% – will get a break on their state personal income taxes when they file their 2019 tax returns, thanks to legislation enacted in April by the state Legislature and Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. That’s according to an analysis by the Washington, DC-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), released today in coordination with New Mexico Voices for Children.
Despite a fairly strong economy nationally, ten states – including New Mexico – have seen an increase in the share of children living in areas of concentrated poverty, according to a new report. The report also shows that children of color are more likely to live in high-poverty, low-opportunity neighborhoods than are white children.
“When immigrant workers are short changed, their families’ long term economic security suffers. While New Mexico boasts some of the strongest anti-wage theft laws in the country, without an adequate budget to enforce them the state will continue to let employers off the hook,” said Marcela Díaz, Executive Director of Somos Un Pueblo Unido, a statewide immigrant and worker’s rights organization.
Half of all workers in New Mexico cannot earn paid sick leave and have to either go to work when they or a family member is sick or stay home and lose pay. This is the highest rate in the nation, according to a report released today by the child advocacy organization, New Mexico Voices for Children.
“While New Mexico is used to being at the bottom of the nation in many indicators, here’s one where we’re at the top: we’ve had the most natural gas wasted from oil and gas production on federal land. The waste of gas through venting and flaring cheats New Mexico children out of millions of dollars of lost revenue."
“It’s disappointing, but not terribly surprising to see New Mexico ranked at the bottom again, given the last ten years,” said James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, which runs the state’s KIDS COUNT program. “It is going to take sustained investment to undo the damage from a decade of underfunding all of our child-serving programs and services like health care, child care and K-12 education. We started making progress in 2019, but clearly much more needs to be done.”
“The Working Families Tax Relief Act would have lasting benefits for millions of children,” said Amber Wallin, deputy director of NM Voices. “Kids whose families receive working family tax credits do better in school, are likelier to attend college, and are likely to earn more as adults.” That’s important not only for the children themselves but for our state, nation, and economy,”