OPINION: Universal childcare rollout needs more provider input

On Oct. 9, the state held a public hearing in Santa Fe where the room was packed — educators, directors, owners, and staff. Nearly all opposed the sweeping regulatory changes proposed by Early Childhood Education and Care Department (ECECD). This was not a protest; it was a plea from the frontline of early childhood care.

Let me be clear: The New Mexico Early Childhood Association (NMECA) supports the governor’s bold universal child care initiative. We believe in high-quality early learning for every child and fair, stable wages for our workforce. But what we heard in Santa Fe — and what was evident in the pages of the proposed regulations — is that ECECD is advancing a series of unnecessary, overreaching mandates that threaten the very providers who make universal care possible.

Child care programs in New Mexico are privately owned facilities — not government subsidiaries. We serve New Mexico families. We are small businesses making constant hard decisions about rent, utilities, food, staffing, licensing, insurance, curriculum and safety. Every dollar we receive from subsidy reimbursements is already tightly budgeted. For the state to impose further mandates without funding or consultation is deeply unfair.

ECECD’s statutory authority is clear: It may regulate health and safety standards for children, but proposals that would require approval of all personnel policies, internal handbooks and private business decisions far exceed that mandate.

ECECD spokesperson Julia Sclafani was quoted saying, “The proposed rule change would only require that nine policies and procedures directly affecting the health and safety of children be submitted to ECECD for approval.” But the actual text of the regulations reaches much further — it demands approval of all personnel policies, not merely the nine health‑and‑safety ones. If ECECD truly intends to limit oversight to those nine, then the regulations must be rewritten to say so explicitly.

Another affront: Providers were not consulted in drafting these regulations. We learned of sweeping changes only after the governor’s press release announcing an $18–$21 “entry-level wage” for 5‑star providers. That wage is to be achieved through an “enhanced rate” in subsidy reimbursement. But the math doesn’t work. Payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, benefits and the thin margins of most centers make $21/hour unaffordable under the proposed reimbursement structure. Expecting a director to juggle all other costs of a high-quality program — including rent, curriculum, and utilities — while extracting that extra wage from fluctuating subsidy payments is a recipe for failure.

In fact, forcing wage increases through reimbursement formulas is inequitable and unjust. Child care centers vary wildly: Some pay mortgages; others are nonprofits in donated space. Some receive local grants; others do not. To mandate that they generate wage increases from subsidy reimbursements alone ignores those differences and ensures that only well-capitalized or large centers will survive.

Instead, NMECA urges ECECD to use the Wage and Career Ladder developed last year. That ladder, designed through stakeholder input, offers a transparent pathway for salary growth. But it must be funded directly by the Legislature, not buried inside onerous licensing regulations.

I became president of NMECA because I have seen too many providers — especially in rural communities — close their doors or shrink capacity under unreasonable burdens. These regulations, unvetted and unfunded, will result in fewer child care options, not more. Families will suffer. The workforce will burn out. The promise of universal care will be hollow. ECECD can do better. If the state wants children and families to thrive, it must pause these regulatory rollouts. Then, sit down with providers, directors, teachers and community leaders — not as an afterthought, but as partners in crafting rules that are realistic, legal and fair.

Children deserve excellence. Families deserve access. Providers deserve respect. Let’s build a New Mexico child care system that works for all together.

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