Every child in New Mexico deserves the opportunity to thrive, regardless of a family’s ability to navigate a scholarship application, qualify for limited funding or pay out-of-pocket.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Nov. 5, 2026 – New Mexico Voices for Children strongly opposes Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s recent decision to participate in the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit voucher program, which would make access to essential educational supports dependent on scholarship funding or private pay, rather than ensuring these opportunities are available to all students.
New Mexico Voices for Children has long championed policies that put children first, strengthen public education and remove barriers to opportunity. New Mexico has made meaningful investments in children throughout Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s tenure in both early childhood education and universal childcare. We must ensure every student has access to the resources, relationships and opportunities needed to thrive, regardless of their family’s ability to pay.
Under the federal program, scholarship-granting organizations can distribute funds for tutoring, technology, before- and after-school programs and supplemental educational services (including newly imposed fees) charged by public schools. However, the program’s benefits are likely to disproportionately flow to two groups: wealthy families who have already enrolled their children in private schools and can use scholarship funds to offset existing educational expenses, and wealthy taxpayers who can leverage the program’s tax incentives to shelter capital gains. While these resources may benefit some students, they also raise critical questions about equitable access and what happens to children and families who do not receive scholarship funding or are unable to pay out-of-pocket.
“Tutoring, technology and before- and after-school programs are essential supports that help children succeed academically, provide safe and enriching environments and allow parents and caregivers to work. Access to these opportunities should never depend on a family’s ability to secure private scholarship dollars,” said Gabrielle Uballez, Executive Director of New Mexico Voices for Children. “New Mexico must strengthen public schools and ensure students receive the constitutionally sufficient education they’re entitled to– not create additional barriers or systems in which opportunity depends on private pay and limited scholarship awards.”
As the state moves forward to a new administration, New Mexico Voices for Children urges Gov. Lujan Grisham to roll back this action to ensure students with the greatest needs are not left behind and that public education continues to shift outcomes for children.
“Our tax code should foster collective flourishing, not widen inequalities ,” said Kristopher Nordstrom, New Mexico Voices for Children Director of Research. “This program, unfortunately, is designed to benefit the wealthy at the expense of public school students and hard working New Mexicans.”
A link to a NM Voices blog on this issue can be found here.
About New Mexico Voices for Children
New Mexico Voices for Children is a statewide advocacy organization working to improve the well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities through research-based legislative policy advocacy.
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