New Mexico becomes first state to offer free universal child care

New Mexico on Saturday became the first state to offer free child care for all its residents, delivering on a liberal priority championed by the likes of socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. 

Under the new program, all families are entitled to state vouchers that cover private and public child care fees. 

In order to implement the fully universal system, the state must create 14,000 new child care slots and recruit nearly 5,000 new educators. New Mexico has established a $12.7 million low-interest loan fund to build and expand child care facilities. 

Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said child care is “the backbone of creating a system of support for families that allows them to work, to go to college, to do all the things they need to do to continue to lift New Mexico out of poverty,” according to Reuters.

New Mexico State Rep. Rebecca Dow, a Republican and founder of a daycare center, criticized the program, saying that family tax credits should be given to incentivize mothers to stay at home. 

“There is no capacity, people are going to be disappointed,” she said, according to Reuters.