Suit in child care assistance program case nears an end

Settlement reached after parents sued over eligibility guidelines

SANTA FE — A 2018 lawsuit targeting New Mexico’s child care assistance program could be nearing its end, after a state agency agreed to take additional steps aimed at making it easier for families to know income and eligibility guidelines.

Under the settlement agreement awaiting court approval, the Early Childhood Education and Care Department would temporarily continue allowing families that make up to 200% of the federal poverty level — or roughly $53,000 annually for a family of four — to participate in the program.

And families making slightly more than that can remain in the program if their children are already enrolled, under a separate change adopted by the agency.

But new eligibility requirements would have to be codified by the department via the rule-making process by the end of this year.

The 2018 lawsuit was initially filed by several parents who were denied child care assistance, along with a nonprofit group that advocates for low-income New Mexicans, against the Children, Youth and Families Department, which at the time ran the program.

While a 2019 agreement identified some steps to resolve the lawsuit, the implementation of those changes has largely been inherited by the early childhood department, which was established in 2020 under a bill signed into law by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

As of the end of March, there were 13,418 New Mexico kids participating in the childcare assistance program, according to the agency, a number that was down from past years due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“Access to high quality early child

hood education is critical to the development of our young children and vital to the economic stability of our families,” Early Childhood Education and Care Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky said Tuesday.

Tim Davis, an attorney at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, said the department sought out input from parents in crafting the changes, which he described as “groundbreaking.”

In addition to the eligibility guidelines, the settlement agreement also calls for more transparency by requiring that information on how the state uses income levels to determine co-payment amounts be posted on the department’s website.

A 2019 legislative report on the program found New Mexico’s state-subsidized child care program had not improved educational outcomes for participating children, although it has succeeded in helping families boost their income levels, among other benefits.