New Mexico House speaker testifies before congressional committee on early childhood education

During a hearing on investments in early childhood education, state House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, testified before the U.S. Joint Economic Committee on Wednesday, holding his home state up as an example for others to follow.

Martínez touted New Mexico’s creation of a Cabinet-level secretary position, the establishment of an early childhood trust fund, and voters’ 2022 approval of a constitutional amendment to increase annual distributions from the permanent school fund, resulting in hundreds of millions in new dollars for educational purposes.

“When we talk about it taking a village to raise a child, in New Mexico we are having to rebuild that village, and that is the work that we’ve undertaken over the last few years,” he said. “... My message to all lawmakers is to ‘Please be bold and persistent and to invest in your children.’”

Much of Wednesday’s discussion centered on a partisan debate over choice for families — whether parents should be shepherded toward community-based early childhood centers, including through government investments in child care; be encouraged to stay home with their children; or send them to private centers.

For example, The Heritage Foundation Center for Education Policy Director Lindsey Burke, who also testified before the committee, argued that federal early childhood programs can have waning academic benefits for children.

She also cited research finding that many American families believe it’s ideal for at least one parent to stay home with their children at an early age.

“If the federal government is to continue funding a program like Head Start, at least allow those families to access their share of that $12,000 and take it to a provider of choice,” she said. “... We have to be extremely careful to not preference center-based care over family-based care.”

That argument seemed to resonate with Sen. J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican.

“When we have … married moms … who would like to spend more time at home with their children during those formative years, and our answer to them is, ‘You’ve got to go to the workforce because that’s what’s going to raise GDP’ — what is wrong, if that’s the heuristic we apply to these decisions and public policy?” he said.

Martínez, however, pushed back, arguing that while he supported families being able to stay home with their children, many simply can’t afford it.

“This is not about forcing people into the workforce for the purposes of increased GDP,” he said. “This is about families and being able to raise and nurture our children.”

Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M. and chair of the committee, said in his opening statements that investments in early childhood education improve later academic outcomes for students, allow parents to keep working and, in turn, help the economy.

“Unfortunately, right now, this win-win scenario remains out of reach,” he said. “And that’s because the current private market for early childhood education simply cannot and is not meeting the needs of most families.”