Early Childhood Education and Protection

through Correct Appropriation of State Funds

A Proposal to New Mexico House and Senate Legislators from CHI St.
Josephs Children
Introduction:
New Mexico is supposed to be the Land of Enchantment. One of the main problems
with this statement is that while the landscape views are certainly enchanting, the view given on
the children within our state is not so endearing. New Mexico ranks 49th out of the 50 US
states in overall child well-being (Annie E. Casey Foundation). In every single overall statistic,
New Mexico ranks either 48th or 49th out of all of the 50 states. Its not just a problem in one
area for our children-were failing them in just about every way possible.
Children in New Mexico are suffering, and CHI St. Josephs has developed a plan that
will help turn New Mexicos child-rearing problem around. While this plan lacks the pizazz and
pomp of some others ideas, this long-term investment will help this state make long-term
improvements. Rather than placing a band-aid over a deep wound, this plan will integrate a
long-term healing approach, improving childhood well-being in New Mexico for years to
come. Perhaps, with time, dedication and effort, the people of this land can become as
enchanting as the vistas we so enjoy.

The Problem:
New Mexico ranks 49th out of the 50 states in overall Child Well-Being (Annie E. Casey
Foundation). Using a gamut of statistics, including child poverty, lack of secure parental
employment, teens out of school and work, childhood school percentages, birth weight, health
insurance, teen deaths, teen alcohol/drug abuse, and family constitution, among others, the
Annie E. Casey Foundation ranked New Mexico as the second-worst state in the overall wellbeing of our children (AECF). This is something no New Mexican should be proud of. Our

children deserve better. This is not a problem with a quick solution. There is no band-aid that
can patch up the fact that our children are in the worst state they have been in compared to
other states in the US since New Mexico became a state, and this data will continue to worsen
unless action is taken to make some serious changes.
35% of New Mexicos
children are living in
poverty. While New Mexicos
hovering around 17% overall,
the child poverty rate is much
higher. 10% of our teenagers
are neither in school, nor are
they working. They seem to
be doing nothing productive
with their lives. Perhaps the reason why theyre not in school and cant find a job is that their
earlier education suffered. 62% of our children do not attend preschool, 79% of our Fourth
Graders cant read at a Fourth Grade reading level, and 77% of our Eighth Graders are not
proficient in math at their level (AECF). Every single one of those percentages listed is a
statistically significant deviation from the national average, as can be seen above.
On a personal note, one of my good friends decided to drop out of the enriched English
program for his 12th grade year and joined the regular English class. Instead of doing any form
of written work or discussing literature or literary devices in this new English course, the
students were required to color pictures about the stories they read. Thats the level of some of
our high school graduates. If our children cant read at the level theyre supposed to and cant
perform any sort of higher math calculations, what kind of lives are they being set up

for? Remediation helps, certainly, but preventive measures are always more cost-efficient in
the long run.
These numbers all stem from the same source - our children are not given the
educational basis they need in their early years to promote healthy learning for the rest of their
lives. Research shows that the more early learning programs a child participates in when
young, the higher that childs reading and math scores will be later on in life (Heckman). When
children are given adequate care, including a loving and safe home, proper healthcare and
nutrition, and stimulating environments where they can safely learn and grow, they gain the
confidence and neural pathways necessary to be successful later on in life (Heckman). When
these factors are lacking, as they currently are for many of our states children, we are setting
them up to fail later on in their lives.
Children are the most precious resource of any civilization. They carry the hopes and
dreams of us all. Without them, we have no future. We need to take a stand now to prevent
this disaster were currently dealing with from becoming a catastrophic failure from which there
is no return. If we fail our children now, we doom them and our communities for decades into
the future.

Projected Plan:
The Land Grant Permanent Fund of New Mexico (LGPF) is currently rated around $12.5
billion, and its estimated to continue to grow at least another $10 billion over the next ten years
(NMTruth). 1% of this fund or $125 million, invested in early childhood and parental education,
would make an astonishingly positive impact on New Mexicos long-term child welfare. It would
serve as a powerful preventative measure to protect and empower our children, giving them the
tools they need later on in life. In order for this change to occur, several key steps need to be
taken in order to ensure a lasting positive legacy.

1. Approval of funding through state legislature (Your First Step)

a. First, this change in use of the LGPF would require a popular vote to change the
states constitution in order to enable it.
b. Next, this investment in our children would have to be approved through the state
legislature
2. Proposals and Contracts passed through NMPED (New Mexico Public Education
Department)
a. This would determine which public & private early learning providers can use
these funds to expand and reach the most at-need children in our state
b. Yearly evaluations (# of children served, cost per child served per year,
population density vs. # of children served, etc.) performed by this department
can ensure that increases in services, especially to underserved communities of
New Mexico, can be accomplished
3. State Auditor certifies that funds are properly directed to correct programs
a. Just like with everything else funded by state funds, this grant from the LGPF will
be evaluated by the state auditor yearly to ensure that the programs that are
supposed to get funding actually do receive the promised funds
4. Long-term evaluation measures outcomes of increased investment in ECE
a. Third party evaluation by programs such as NM Voices for Children or the Annie
E. Casey Foundation, to name a couple, would assess the impact of this new
change upon measurable criteria, such as the factors previously shown on p.2,
as well as reading/math/social skill levels of children enrolled in ECE programs
vs. children un-enrolled.

Our Organization/Qualifications:

While Catholic Health Initiatives-St. Josephs Children (CHISJC) has only officially been
serving families and communities in New Mexico since 2001, this program is the result of over a
hundred years of tireless work by love-filled individuals who are focused on the well-being of
those around them. Originally begun by the work of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, the St.
Josephs program is a result of the building and sale of multiple hospitals and blood banks
throughout New Mexico. St. Josephs Children aims to provide help and care for the most
defenseless members of our societyyoung children. Our two main goals are to educate
parents on how to raise and teach their children in a safe, empowering environment through our
own home visiting program, as well as advocating for childhood protection and education at
state and local levels throughout New Mexico(CHISJC).
While we would love to have the infrastructure necessary to oversee and administer this
revamping of ECE in New Mexico ourselves, we understand that the real power and oversight
for this project can only come from our elected leaders. As this is a state issue, it must be dealt
with at the state level, meaning that NMPED and the State Auditors department would share
the greatest portions of the load in this new initiative. We will continue to advocate strongly for
these changes to be made so our children and our childrens children will be able to raise their
heads up proudly and say that they were raised by goodly parents.

Cost/Benefit
The monetary cost of this project would be 1% of LGPF, or about $125 million, yearly,
which would then be re-evaluated if the total value of the LGPF ever drops under the amount of
$10 billion.
While this is a large investment, the cost of not making improvements to our systems of
early childhood education will hurt us even more in the long run. The LGPF is estimated to
increase in value by at least $10B in the next ten years, based on current and estimated oil
prices, and thats already including the current withdrawals made from it. A 1% yearly

withdrawal will make no significant impact on the size of the Land Grant while making a
necessary and worthwhile change not only for the children of this state, but for the long-term
viability of our state as a whole. Below, as can be shown, almost 95% of that initial investment
would go straight to the programs that need the funding to reach our children in need. Only a
little over 5% of it would go to administrative costs.

Each year, the direct effect of this influx of funds would, first off, increase the states
economy by $125 million, but when including the indirect and induced effects of this spending
as well, almost double that amount in economic output within the state will result from this
stimulus, according to the input-output econometric model used by Implan (NMTruth). Thats
not even counting the long-term effects this will have on the states economy as a whole. This
is simply a yearly bonus that would come into the states population, especially since the State
of NM would effectively be giving at least 3,500 people a well-paid job each year. The state
itself would most likely receive $8 million itself in additional tax revenues, which would allow for
greater spending capacity as well.
Even if we were to not take into account the economic stimulus such a package would
entail, the real benefit of this investment would be the long-term gains our children would

receive as a result. The real cost in this situation is not the money that would be taken out of
the LGPF for our children-the real cost would be the futures wed be taking away from our
children as a result of refusing them these opportunities in their early lives.
Thank you so much for your consideration of this incredible change we can make for our
children. We hope to have enough support within the legislature to be able to propose this
amendment at the next legislative session that will be conducted. We at St. Josephs are happy
to answer any questions you may have about this proposed change, and we hope youll contact
us through our main line at 505-924-8000 or through email at
support@stjosephnm.org. Together, we can make New Mexico the Land of Enchantment once
again!

Works Cited:
The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Kids Count 2015 Data Book: State Trends in Child WellBeing 7/21/2015 accessed at http://www.aecf.org/m/databook/aecf-2015kidscountdatabook2015-em.pdf
Heckman, James J. The Case for Investing in Disadvantaged Young Children. Big Ideas for
Children: Investing in Our Nations Future pp. 49-58.
New Mexico Truth. http://www.newmexicotruth.org/
CHI St. Josephs Children. http://www.stjosephnm.org/