Santa, please give NM’s child care program standards

Would you give an additional $26 million to New Mexico’s $149 million child care assistance program when the best things you can say about it is that it put an average of $3,500 in participating families’ pockets and increased kids’ visits to doctors and dentists? No measurable improvement in school readiness. No difference in results from high-rated (thus with higher reimbursement) vs. lower rated programs. Still at the bottom in provider salaries. All at a point in time when the state is under a court microscope to deliver equitable educational opportunities to students, especially those from low-income families, and those who are English language learners, Native American students and students with disabilities.

As a Dec. 11 story by Journal reporter Dan McKay noted, the program is requesting a $26 million increase in funding as analysts from the state Legislative Finance Committee found participation did not lead to kids being any better prepared for school.

So why invest even more in an ineffective bureaucracy? Why not just hand families a check and contact information for health clinics near their homes?

That question needs to be top of mind for lawmakers when they reconvene Jan. 21. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham told Journal editors and reporters in a meeting Wednesday that her team is working on developing core standards for all providers in the child care assistance program — public and private, secular and parochial. (Reporter Dan Boyd’s A1 story in today’s Journal covers the governor’s comments about her priorities for the upcoming legislative session).

Those standards are essential and the administration needs to set a high bar from the get-go — every N.M. child deserves a solid start at becoming a lifelong learner, and every taxpayer deserves a program that delivers its intended results for their hard-earned dollars. That’s why the Journal Editorial Board supported the creation of the new Early Childhood Education and Care Department earlier this year — finally to bring coordination, accountability, best practices and measurable results to the nine-figure programs run previously under either the Public Education or Children, Youth & Families departments.

So far, there’s no word on whether this new department means PED or CYFD will downsize/transfer staff appropriately. Note to executive branch decision-makers and state lawmakers: Bloated government and a lack of academic results are certainly not what taxpayers signed up for, the revenue boom from the Permian Basin notwithstanding. New Mexico needs a bang for those bucks and solid programs that stand the test of time when (not if) the boom once again turns to bust.

The Legislative Finance Committee’s report makes it clear the governor and Early Childhood Education and Care Secretary-Designate Elizabeth Groginsky should work together to make sure outcomes and accountability are first and foremost.

Otherwise, they should save the time, effort and cost of bureaucracy, and just start cutting checks.