Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed universal childcare into New Mexico law Tuesday morning. The bill, known as the Child Care Assistance Program Act, will allow parents to apply for totally or partially subsidized childcare for all children under 13.
The universal child care effort ranked with medical malpractice reform and education and literacy standards as one of the Legislature’s top priorities in the recent 30-day session. Initial proposals from members of the state House of Representatives would have required co-pays from some New Mexico families to participate, Source New Mexico reported. But the bill Lujan Grisham signed into law Tuesday will only require co-pays from families with a household income of more than 600% of the federal poverty level under certain signs of economic decline—that includes inflation and decreasing oil prices. Today is the deadline for the governor to sign bills into law.
Grisham also signed several educational bills into law Monday, Source New Mexico reported. She signed Senate Bill 64, which permanently establishes the Office of Special Education within the state Public Education Department. The office is meant to track and prevent discrimination against special-needs students. Its leaders will create a statewide Individualized Education Program — known as an IEP — that will be maintained electronically so that families with special-needs children will not have to start over if they transfer school districts.
The initiative is of particular importance to her, Lujan Grisham said, because her sister was a special needs student who often had instruction in a broom closet because there was no other space for her. The governor said that her sister "would have benefitted, and so would have my parents, from a bill that highlighted that she was just as important and valuable as every other student."
She told reporters after Monday’s bill signing that she believes these efforts will help the state meet its goals in the Yazzie/Martinez education equity lawsuit, which accuses the state of consistently failing at-risk students.
Another signed bill was Senate Bill 37, which requires schools to employ best practices from a pedagogy known as structured literacy. A Legislative Education Study Committee report on the bill found that similar approaches have paid off to significant effect in other states. The governor also signed Senate Bill 29, which increases math requirements for teaching licenses; and House Bill 47, which requires the state to pay 80% of educators’ health care premiums.
