New Mexico’s efforts to expand access to early childhood education and care were featured last week in a hearing by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. The hearing, which was chaired by Sen. Martin Heinrich and featured New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martinez, showcased New Mexico’s efforts to enact policies that provide families with a continuum of early care and education programs. You can watch the hearing here.

Researchers at the UNM Cradle to Career Policy Institute have been studying family and provider outcomes from New Mexico’s child care expansion policies. Preliminary findings from this research were described by Senator Heinrich in his opening remarks (read the full remarks here), and the full brief is available here.

This brief is focused on New Mexico’s child care policies, which include expanding income eligibility for child care subsidies to 400% of the federal poverty level ($103,280 per year for a family of three), and reimbursing child care providers based on a model of the cost of providing quality care. So far, the study finds:

• Newly eligible families who have received child care subsidies reported in interviews that they are experiencing significant economic benefits and reduced stress.
• Families expressed concern about whether expanded eligibility would be sustained, and worried about losing the stability they gained through subsidy benefits. 
• Survey and interview results from child care providers indicate they are investing the new funding in their small businesses in a variety of ways, including upgrading their facilities and increasing educator wages.
• Providers also described ongoing challenges to the financial stability of their businesses, a need for additional support recruiting and retaining workers, and concerns about whether current spending will be sustained in ways they can count on and plan for.
• Child care subsidy enrollment numbers have rebounded to exceed pre-COVID levels, with gains shared across urban and rural settings.
• Licensed child care capacity in New Mexico is up 7.5% over pre-COVID numbers, with that growth concentrated in center-based programs with quality ratings that exceed basic licensure.