Early childhood workers shore up support for pay raises, career ladder

El Rito Media News Services
Lori Panteah loved being an early childhood teacher at an Albuquerque day care.
She did the job for over 13 years, she said. But the mother of two could not support her family on her wage of $13.50 per hour and was forced to leave the profession.
“I really loved working with the kids, but it wasn’t good enough,” Panteah said.
She has hope for a comeback, however, under a proposal backed by the governor and the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department to raise the wage floor for early childhood workers from $15 per hour to $18.
During a Monday news conference at the state Capitol, early childhood advocates and officials worked to shore up support for two proposals tied to early child workers’ pay — one to raise their base pay and another to set up a wage and career ladder to make work in early childhood care and education a viable career path.
The proposals face a battle in the Roundhouse. While the executive branch has embraced them, both were left out of the budget recommendation by the powerful Legislative Finance Committee, released earlier this month.
“For far too long, our early childhood workforce have been underpaid and underrecognized,” Early Childhood Education and Care Cabinet Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky said at the news conference.
Under the governor’s budget recommendations, upping the wage floor for early childhood workers would be a part of a larger, $104.6 million pilot program aimed at broadly improving child care throughout the state. The wage and career ladder comes with an expected price tag of $10 million.
It’s not clear why the Legislative Finance Committee did not include the proposals in its spending plan — efforts to reach leaders of that committee were unsuccessful Monday.
Early childhood advocates were optimistic they could work it out during the session.
“I think there’s a lot of room for negotiation,” said Leila Salim, a spokesperson for OLÉ New Mexico, a nonprofit family advocacy organization. “I think the LFC is usually very conservative in their recommendations, and then throughout the course of the session, there is time to negotiate.”
In a joint written statement, House Appropriations and Finance Committee Chair Nathan Small, D-Las Cruces, and Vice Chair Meredith Dixon, D-Albuquerque, said they would closely review the requested $104.6 million for the pilot program.
“Our focus on HAFC is on making sure that our substantial investments in early childhood education are sustainable and directly serve the kids, families, and providers who care for them across our state,” they wrote.
The wage and career ladder is still being developed, the early childhood department said Monday.
But Valeria Holloway, owner of Las Cruces-based day care Best of the Southwest, said it would broadly help early childhood workers remain in classrooms.
“It is a tool that [recognizes] the skill, dedication and expertise required to nurture the young members of our society,” she said. “It creates opportunities for educators to grow in their careers without being forced to leave the classrooms, where they are needed the most.”
To fund the proposals, Groginsky said the Legislature must also pass House Bill 71, which would double the annual distribution from New Mexico’s Early Childhood Education and Care Fund from $250 million to $500 million.
That bill comes after a measure was passed last year expanding the distribution from about $150 million. On Monday, HB 71 was in the House Education Committee, but had not yet been scheduled for a hearing.
Esteban Candelaria is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. He covers child welfare and the state Children, Youth and Families Department. Learn more about Report for America at reportforamerica.org.