This 1 Southwestern state will be the first to offer free child care for everyone — saving families an average $12K per child. Will your state follow?

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement to LiveNOW from FOX, "Child care is essential to family stability, workforce participation, and New Mexico’s future prosperity. By investing in universal child care, we are giving families financial relief, supporting our economy and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow and thrive" [1].

This free child care refers to licensed early learning and supervision programs — such as day care centers, licensed home-based providers and preschool classrooms — for children from birth to age 5. Families will no longer pay tuition or copayments, but access is limited to licensed providers and depends on available capacity. Informal babysitting or unlicensed arrangements aren’t covered.

Here’s how the state reached this point, and what other states are doing to move toward the same goal.

A long road to “universal” child care

The shift didn’t happen overnight. In 2019, state lawmakers established a dedicated department to oversee early childhood services [2].

Three years later, voters approved a constitutional amendment that enshrined early education as a right for children ages 0 to 5 years old, while channeling oil and gas revenues into a permanent early childhood trust fund [3].

That steady buildup of infrastructure and funding made it possible for the state to go all-in on universal access this fall. To meet demand, New Mexico is expanding a $12.7 million low-interest loan program for facility construction and renovations, and increasing reimbursement rates for providers [4].

Advocates say the economic case is just as strong as the social one. A 2023 poll from the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 76% of U.S. adults consider child care costs a “major problem” [5].

Supporters believe eliminating child care costs will pay dividends for New Mexico’s labor force [6]. By making it easier for parents — especially mothers — to remain in or return to the workforce, the state could see more substantial employment numbers and long-term growth.

At the same time, New Mexico will have to prove it can sustain the program. The trust fund and state revenues provide a cushion, but early childhood services remain expensive to operate.

Straight Arrow News reports that state leaders are boosting reimbursement rates for providers and introducing incentives for centers that pay staff at least $18 an hour and extend care hours [7].

To meet the demand of a fully universal system, New Mexico will need an estimated 5,000 additional early childhood workers.

Is your state next?

New Mexico may be the first to offer free universal child care, but it isn’t alone in moving toward broader access.

Several states — including Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin — already guarantee free pre-kindergarten for four-year-olds [8]. That means those states offer tuition-free preschool programs for all children of that age, regardless of family income. However, these programs typically cover only part of the day or school year, and they don’t extend to infants and toddlers.

California has launched universal pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds [9]. Meanwhile, Michigan and New Jersey have set goals of making preschool universally available in the coming years [10].

But none of those efforts currently covers complete child care across all ages and income levels. New Mexico has staked out bold new territory. Families will no longer have to factor child care costs into their budgets, and the state will test whether universal access can deliver both economic and developmental benefits.

The outcome will provide a real-time test case: can a state sustainably fund and staff free child care while maintaining quality? For now, all eyes will be on New Mexico when the program kicks in, and the results may influence how other states think about their own early childhood policies.

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[1]. LiveNowFox. "New Mexico to become first state to offer universal child care"

[2]. Office of the Governor Mihclle Lujan Grisham. "New Mexico is first state in nation to offer universal child care"

[3]. The 74. "New Mexico Will Become the First State to Offer Universal Child Care"