New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care • Hacker News Board

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

#331

Post by mapt » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 4:32 PM UTC

non_aligned wrote: post #219

Aurornis wrote: post #80

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. 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 while no-strings-attached payouts appeal to rational geeks, they usually lead to public perception problems. If you give a voucher for childcare to a parent struggling with addiction or a gambling habit, they will probably send the kid to childcare. If you give them…

If you give a no-strings attached cash payment for childcare to a parent struggling with addiction or a gambling problem, they will probably not send the kid to childcare, and instead take the cash.

If you give a no-strings attached cash payment for childcare to a parent struggling with a paying their rent problem, they will also probably not send the kid to childcare, and instead take the cash. And then everybody's rents will go up because families with children have more capability to pay.

Nothing is ever a perfect system, but there are many more things wrong with the current system than concerns about the equity BETWEEN different working class families in different situations. Some of those dysfunctions will happily consume most of an incrementalist policy solution to an arbitrary problem. Direct provision or vouchered provision of necessary goods and services has a lot of minor problems, but it happily mitigates our ability to let one problem eat an unrelated solution.

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

#332

Post by dpflan » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 4:32 PM UTC

criddell wrote: post #255

dpflan wrote: post #19

Where is the money coming from to keep these services afloat? The federal funding environment seems less magnanimous these days, plus as other have pointed out, New Mexico is not an economic powerhouse.

Oklahoma has had free pre-K for years now. If a red state like Oklahoma can figure out how to fund child care, it should be easy for New Mexico to do something similar.

Perhaps this is one of those issues that gains momentum amongst enough states to become nation-wide phenomenon like other government-solutions/decision-for-social-issues do.

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

#333

Post by Ajedi32 » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 4:33 PM UTC

9rx wrote: post #259

Ajedi32 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct. It all comes down to whether you believe parents leaving home to work on their careers instead of staying home to raise their kids is an unambiguous good that needs to be subsidized the same way education is.

Assuming by education you actually mean schooling, this is the very same thing. The question is really only about at which age subsidized schooling should first start. This moves that age of first subsidized engagement to approximately birth, as opposed to waiting until age ~3-5 (varies by jurisdiction). Historically it was considered a beneficial necessity to gather the children to write down knowledge so that it co…

I think the biggest difference isn't age, it's that childcare also happens during the summer, not just during the school year. (And of course the lack of any particular educational curriculum.)

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

#334

Post by SilverElfin » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 4:34 PM UTC

monknomo wrote: post #21

Nifty3929 wrote: post #15

It's easy to promise things, but hard to deliver them. How can the state "guarantee no-cost universal child?" Will the state provide the child care itself? Or will the attempt to provide funding, relying on the private market to provide the service. Are there a bunch of underworked child care providers just waiting around for new customers? Or would they expect the child care industry to go on a hiring spree? Regardl…

you could sub in universal k-12 schooling and your concern trolling points would not need to be change. I applaud the versatile argument.

Concern trolling? This isn’t 2015. You can leave out the insults.

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

#335

Post by kccqzy » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 4:34 PM UTC

Nicook wrote: post #30

kccqzy wrote: post #10

I'm very unfamiliar with New Mexico (having only been a tourist in Albuquerque and Santa Fe for a few days), but according to U.S. News it ranks 50 out of 50 for education: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education . Given some level of geographic mobility it doesn't seem like a place I would want to raise a child. Am I mistaken? Thoughts?

Like with choosing to live anywhere you shouldn't be looking at state level education for your child's education. That would be stupid.

The state certainly has an impact on local schools. In California for example the State Board of Education sets standards for education, and recently it published a framework whose first version discouraged students from taking Algebra I in middle school. Delaying algebra to high school and delaying calculus to college are opposite of my own upbringing and seem very wrong to me. It also had other guidelines that I vehemently disagree with, such as de-tracking in favor of heterogeneous student grouping.

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

#336

Post by ryandrake » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 4:34 PM UTC

mothballed wrote: post #16

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…

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.

I just don't understand this mentality.

My wife is a stay-at-home mom. We are lucky that we can afford to do this. Most of our kid's friends have both parents working and they pay for child care. If suddenly they were able to have that childcare paid for, that would be wonderful! It doesn't affect our situation at all. Why would we oppose it? I don't need to have my own "waiver" payment in order for me to be in favor of my neighbor's burden being lifted.

It's like free school lunch. We pack our kid a lunch every day, but some families rely on the school-provided free lunch. It's never even occurred to me that we should get a $3/day payment because we don't take advantage of free lunch. Having free lunch available is unequivocally a good thing, regardless of whether we personally partake.

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

#337

Post by programjames » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 4:34 PM UTC

potato3732842 wrote: post #268

lagniappe wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>no-habla cash only daycare Yo, what the fuck HN?

You send your kid to the daycare run by foreigners to learn a language. I send my kid to the daycare run by foreigners to learn cultural values. WeAreNotTheSame.jpg

I'm confused, what cultural values do you want them to learn?

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

#338

Post by scarface_74 » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 4:35 PM UTC

Muromec wrote: post #230

scarface_74 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s frustrating about this is that conservatives are always warning about the decreasing child birth rate. But fight against policies that would help support families who have children. Universal healthcare is similar. You want to support small businesses? Lack of affordable healthcare stops a lot of people from leaving corporate America to start their own business.

>What’s frustrating about this is that conservatives are always warning about the decreasing child birth rate. But fight against policies that would help support families who have children. That's what happens when party doesn't have an actual policy stance and min-maxes their pooling numbers based on target audience instead. Another more cynical take is "childbirths" is just a code for racism and "pro-life" a code f…

It’s not just pro-life - even though it might encourage more women to not have abortions - it’s also they want to stave off the country from becoming “majority minority” to “preserve their culture”.

The minute they even think that minorities are help by pro child policies they will be back to the “welfare queen” dog whistles that Reagan did.

But to be fair, a few of the religious non MAGA conservatives did understand that the best way to reduce abortions were to support new mothers and children. But now that Roe v Wade has been overturned, they don’t seem to care about it anymore.

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

#339

Post by Ajedi32 » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 4:35 PM UTC

stackskipton wrote: post #303

Ajedi32 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tax $100 each from couple A and couple B. Couple A leave their kids at a daycare and work. They get $200 in childcare costs reimbursed by the government. Couple B has one parent stay home to take care of their kids. They get nothing. Couple A: -$100 + $200 = +$100 Couple B: -$100 + $0 = -$100

Sure and under income taxes, Couple B probably pays much less since US income tax structure is gives massive benefits to couples with single income. It may not be enough to offset joint income. As with most economic changes, there is massive web of things.

> US income tax structure is gives massive benefits to couples with single income

It gives massive structural advantages to couples with low income, in the form of a lower marginal tax rate. Does it really discriminate between single and dual income though? I wasn't aware of that.

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

#340

Post by whimsicalism » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 4:36 PM UTC

iamtheworstdev wrote: post #38

dfee wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kick what off?

presumably universal care in general, up to and including healthcare.

i’m down but i think there needs to be a recognition that this would require tax increases, not just on the ultra wealthy because there is simply not enough income up there to fund this.