From the “sounds great until you read the fine print” file: New Mexico just became the first state in the nation to promise universal free child care for all families. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says she’ll leverage the state’s oil and gas windfall to pay for it, eliminating income eligibility limits and expanding access to an additional 12,000 children. Average annual child care costs are around $12,000, and the governor insists this plan is “life-changing” for parents who’ll now have more money for groceries and utilities.
But here’s the kicker: this grand scheme only works because New Mexico’s economy is awash in oil and gas cash. One-third of the state’s revenue comes from the very industry Colorado’s Jared Polis has spent years trying to strangle. Without those black-gold dollars, this program collapses faster than a Boulder vegan at a cattleman’s cookout.
The Bullet Point Brief
- New Mexico goes big. Universal free child care for all families, no income limits.
- Funded by oil and gas. Yep, the same industry Democrats trash fuels one-third of NM’s budget.
- Costs balloon. Annual spending on child care jumps 26% to $583 million.
- Questions linger. Demand already outpaces supply; the state needs 50 new centers and 1,000 new registered homes.
- Colorado contrast. While Polis dreams of similar freebies, he’s gutted the very oil and gas dollars needed to pay for them.
My Bottom Line
This is the part where I remind you that math still matters. New Mexico can pull this stunt because it’s swimming in oil and gas revenue. It doesn’t mean they should, because I don’t believe that the provision of child care is the proper role of government – it just breeds more governmental dependency. One in three of New Mexico’s revenue dollars comes from drilling rigs, not “climate summits.” They’re bankrolling “free” child care with the very industry Colorado Democrats are busy regulating to death.
So when Jared Polis and his Boulder buddies start daydreaming about Colorado copying New Mexico’s model, somebody please wave a calculator in their faces. We don’t have the oil money anymore – because they’re killing it. What we do have is higher energy bills, fewer jobs, and a shrinking tax base. Translation: Colorado couldn’t afford this even if we wanted to.
And here’s the real joke: New Mexico’s own legislative review says there’s “little evidence” that kids are better prepared for school under the state’s early childhood programs. In other words, the state’s last in education outcomes, but hey, free babysitting!
Colorado, take notes. You can’t regulate the golden goose to death and then wonder why you don’t have golden eggs to fund every feel-good program. New Mexico’s model only “works” because of oil and gas. Period. Colorado Democrats can’t have both – either you love free money from drilling, or you kill it to virtue-signal for Boulder. Pick one.
