Gabriella Munoz Lopez paid between $300 and $400 a month to parent her two children, a 7-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son.
Then, about a year ago, she says that she’s gone monthly expenses.
Munoz Lopez, 41, and her family, qualified for free childcare in New Mexico, expanded their childcare support program in 2022 to families earning up to 400% of federal poverty levels, earning $106,600 for a family of three.
For Muñoz Lopez, monthly savings mean that she has the money to pay her children more, like sports programs and other extracurricular curricula. As her children were in reliable care, she expanded her time with her waitress work, from her part-time schedule to work full-time, roughly 35-40 hours a week.
Starting November 1, New Mexico will be the first state to expand free universal childcare for all families, regardless of income level.
The move has been going on for many years since Governor Michel Lejean Grisham first ran in 2018 and committed to investing in education from early childhood to university.
In 2019, Lujan Grisham established a cabinet-level agency for early childhood, and in 2020 lawmakers allocated about $300 million in the state’s oil revenue to the Early Childhood Trust Fund.
New Mexico’s latest parenting initiative will establish a $12.7 million low-interest loan fund to renovate and build new childcare facilities, providing more money to centers that pay entry-level workers between $18 and $21 per hour, among other goals.
“I am extremely grateful and very happy, and I am pleased that we have achieved universal parenting and it is free,” Munoz Lopez tells CNBC that he will communicate it through my Spanish interpreter, a New Mexico nonprofit that represents working families.
12,000 children qualify for free care and save families $13,000 a year
Officials in New Mexico say more than 12,000 children are eligible for free care due to the expansion of the existing program. State with median family incomes just above $64,000 a year will save an average of $13,000 a year, according to the Washington Post.
Working New Mexico families and school families can apply for childcare assistance in the at-home and after-school programs and summer programs licensed or registered by the early childhood education and care department.
Patricia Bustillos Ramirez says her family is among those new eligible for free childcare.
Bustillos Ramirez, 58, works for a nonprofit organization and recalls the challenges of finding affordable childcare when her daughter is young.
Currently, Bustillos Ramirez has four grandchildren, between the ages of 1 and 6. Her daughter is eligible for a lower childcare rate and pays about $400 a month. Come in November, that monthly expenses will be completely wiped out.
She says her family has more money for healthy food and gas soon, and her daughter will be able to work more reliable hours while her children are caring for.
Bustillos Ramirez says she has been involved in my advocacy efforts for several years to promote universal free childcare. It is important that she appears at the New Mexico State Capitol and represents parents and teachers who cannot be there due to work and care needs.
“I was able to go all the way there, carry the flag, march and protest,” says Bustillos Ramirez. “Many people don’t know that there are people who don’t have enough money to pay for daycare. This is how we let them know.”
She adds that there will be more jobs to ensure fair wages for educators and daycare operators.
More money for daycare companies and workers
María Parra, 36, is the owner of Little Genius Daycare Center and is 2-5 years old in caring for her children.
She currently has one employee who pays $15 an hour. The state’s minimum wage is above $12 an hour. New funding from the state could allow Parra to raise wages for its employees and hire a different wage.
Parra also hopes that the new qualification will bring more students to the facility. She currently has eight children, but can accommodate up to 12 people. All children come from low-income families and qualify for state care subsidies.
Without subsidies, it would cost families between $600 and $1,175 a month to register their children with a small genius.
The change will bring more stability to her business, Parra says that it will bring more opportunities for children to learn, parents to study or work, and educators to make more money than they can work in care facilities.
She says it is important that New Mexico’s universal childcare is available, regardless of the child’s current legal status in the United States, and that only the child’s immigration status is considered for eligibility for assistance, and that the child must be a US citizen, legal resident, or a qualified immigrant.
“We are extremely proud that New Mexico is the first state to offer free childcare,” she says. “We are investing in the state’s future for our families and children.”
The rules for the program are still fixed and lawmakers still need to approve the funds. A hearing is set for October 9th to discuss the proposed changes to rules, according to a report from Santa Fe New Mexicans.
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