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New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

governor.state.nm.us

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Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

#191

Post by giantg2 »

Aurornis wrote: post #80
mothballed wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would make sense IMO to provide an equal value waiver to those who take care of their kid rather than send them to childcare. Stay at home moms do not provide a less valuable service than childcare providers. This policy appears to disincentives children staying with their mother even when it is preferred.

> Would make sense IMO to provide an equal value waiver to those who take care of their kid rather than send them to childcare. This is a great way to kill a policy. It would technically be most fair if every parent was given the same amount of money per child, period. Then they could do what they needed or wanted with it. But doing so would not only increase the costs dramatically (by a multiple) it would give money…

"But doing so would not only increase the costs dramatically (by a multiple) it would give money to many parents who didn’t need it for child care."

And that's the argument against many of these policies - removal of the needs based testing. Odd to see you defend the policy on the very basis others attack it on.

Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

#192

Post by AndyMcConachie »

dzink wrote: post #31
dzink wrote: post #12

This is fantastic! I hope they succeed and there is no abuse or other issues, because it will show how much an economy can grow when women are allowed to work to their full potential. Families who were previously in poverty because the mom would struggle to pay for childcare to work can now have assurance kids are ok while the mom can pursue jobs, start her own small business (huge chunk of businesses are small busin…

This would solve a lot of Republican’s problems as well. Israel has the kibbutz system and they have the highest birth rate of developed economies. They also have amazing tech and women participation and excellent contributions even in the military. If you raise the country’s children well, you get more GDP and less prisons and less need for policing, and less need for welfare programs. Plus you get quality workers f…

[flagged]

Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

#193

Post by TomasBM »

declan_roberts wrote: post #122

I'm going to take the reverse position. I don't like this policy. I think it would be much better to provide a one year paid stipend so that a parent can be home with the children during their tender years. This entire structure is set up to keep the boss happy while a stranger raises your child during their most formative and vulnerable years.

So, maternity/paternity leave in line with European systems?

Or did you have something else in mind?

Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

#194

Post by xp84 »

ch4s3 wrote: post #110
bombcar wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many things that may be better overall, but because they're not financialized, they don't show up on GDP and so are deemed "worthless." Breastfeeding doesn't move money around, but formula does; things like that. Cooking your own meal doesn't raise GDP beyond the cost of supplies, but door-dashing from a restaurant does.

More realistically here, there’s a limit to the funding any individual state can come up with to fund benefits. Tradeoffs have to be considered and increased workforce participation increases the tax receipts that fund these programs. It’s not much more complicated than that.

It's sometimes surprising to read a comment like this, which applies just common sense, basic math, and logic, instead of the typical online comment mixture of hysteria, panic, and portraying one's non-favorite "team" as a bunch of mustachio-twirling cartoon villains.

Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

#195

Post by rexpop »

declan_roberts wrote: post #122

I'm going to take the reverse position. I don't like this policy. I think it would be much better to provide a one year paid stipend so that a parent can be home with the children during their tender years. This entire structure is set up to keep the boss happy while a stranger raises your child during their most formative and vulnerable years.

Capitalism historically depends on the unpaid reproductive labor of women in the domestic sphere, work that is socially undervalued and made invisible, which supports capitalist systems rather than liberates women. Instituting a paid stipend for home parenting, while superficially supportive, risks reinforcing this systemic isolation by formalizing the separation of caregivers (mainly women) from the workforce and political arenas where power is exercised and negotiated.

Women confined to domesticity become disconnected from their own potential and larger societal participation.

Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

#196

Post by wetoastfood »

declan_roberts wrote: post #122

I'm going to take the reverse position. I don't like this policy. I think it would be much better to provide a one year paid stipend so that a parent can be home with the children during their tender years. This entire structure is set up to keep the boss happy while a stranger raises your child during their most formative and vulnerable years.

Childcare doesn't end at 1 year though. If you look at public schools as child care, most don't start until kindergarten (about 5 years old). What do you do for the remaining 4 years? And during summer break? And after-school care? This program covers all of those.

Forcing parents back into the workforce early is unfortunate and does need to be addressed. However, this program seems to be addressing a different and still vital issue.

Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

#197

Post by scarface_74 »

mcny wrote: post #18
bediger4000 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been told since at least 1980 that small, local government was best. I was given the impression that state level government was probably the optimum level to decide things, cities and counties could go off the rails in various ways. I haven't see a coherent rationale for reversing course on this doctrine, which was extremely strongly held, and cited a lot.

> I was given the impression that state level government was probably the optimum level to decide things I don't think government at any level should get to discriminate based on protected classes and I hope most people alive today will agree https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine

That has never been true in practice. Just yesterday, the Supreme Court said that ICE can detain people solely if they are Hispanic and where they are.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/08/supreme-court-ice-r...

Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

#198

Post by Minor49er »

smeeth wrote: post #171
declan_roberts wrote: post #122

I'm going to take the reverse position. I don't like this policy. I think it would be much better to provide a one year paid stipend so that a parent can be home with the children during their tender years. This entire structure is set up to keep the boss happy while a stranger raises your child during their most formative and vulnerable years.

Hate to break it to you, but many kids actually do better away from their parents than with them. It's extremely sad, but a consistent finding in early childhood education is that the children who thrive most in daycares tend to come from the least advantaged backgrounds. So a policy of paying parents to stay home would mostly benefit kids who are already well off.

> Hate to break it to you, but many kids actually do better away from their parents than with them.

How so?

Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

#199

Post by elteto »

pbk1 wrote: post #73
lp251 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is paid for by the oil and gas boom in Southern NM. The medical situation is getting worse by the year, though. I don’t think it’s just a matter of shoveling more dollars

I went on a road trip through Southern NM a couple years ago. Highly recommend stopping at Gila National Forest - it's a certified "dark park", remote enough from sources of light to see the Milky Way with the naked eye. One thing that struck me - towns down there had a template. 90% of towns we drove through were just a blood plasma "donation" center, a dollar store, a gas station, and a cemetery. Very bleak existen…

That is a very common pattern. Probably 90% of poor rural America is like that. And the lucky towns have those stores, others not even.

Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

#200

Post by afthonos »

bluGill wrote: post #135
motorest wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Stay at home moms do not provide a less valuable service than childcare providers. I don't know how can anyone arrive at that conclusion. > This policy appears to disincentives children staying with their mother even when it is preferred. This assertion is baffling and far-fetched. There is only one beneficiary of this policy: families who desperately needed access to childcare but could not possibly afford it. Wit…

> With this policy, those who needed childcare but were priced out of the market will be able to access the service they needed. And the rich parents who can afford childcare are also given a subsidy. A married parent who wants to stay home but can't quite afford it is forced to work. Is this really what you want? If it is the poor your care about why not subsidies just them?

> A married parent who wants to stay home but can't quite afford it is forced to work.

I’m confused; how does your preferred policy solve this problem?

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