Even supporters say MLG, Dems botched ‘universal child care’

New Mexico Democrats rushed to declare victory on “free” universal child care. Now, even supporters of the far-left policy idea are warning that the state’s big-government experiment is running headfirst into reality.

In a blistering new Vox article titled “How to screw up universal childcare,” Sara Mickelson, a former deputy cabinet secretary at New Mexico’s Early Childhood Education and Care Department and an avowed supporter of universal child care, warned that New Mexico’s program is becoming a national cautionary tale.

The article is not written from a conservative perspective. In fact, Mickelson openly praises the concept of universal child care, calling it the type of “bold, life-changing social policy” advocates have long wanted. But even she says New Mexico’s implementation has gone badly wrong.

“Unfortunately, the most ambitious new attempt at universal childcare in America right now is in danger of making a mistake that has derailed past efforts: throwing money at parents without providing enough care for them to spend it on,” Mickelson wrote for Vox.

That is the central flaw in Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s “free” (taxpayer-funded) child care scheme: the state opened the floodgates for taxpayer-funded demand, but failed to ensure there were enough child care providers, classrooms, workers, and infant-care slots to meet it.

According to Vox, New Mexico increased the number of children receiving child care assistance vouchers by 78% from 2019 to 2025. But over that same period, the state’s regulated child care capacity grew by just 1.9%, from 70,108 slots to 71,455.

In other words, Democrats handed out more taxpayer-funded promises while the actual supply of care barely budged.

Vox noted that the state’s own estimates showed New Mexico still needs nearly 16,000 physical child care slots and at least 5,000 new professionals to staff them. Those targets, according to the article, remain unmet.

Mickelson described the state’s approach as a “textbook policy failure,” writing that New Mexico prioritized “expanding demand-side subsidies” and giving parents vouchers for free child care, while failing to sufficiently increase the number of places where families can actually bring their children.

That means the program may be “universal” in politicians’ press releases, but not in the real world.

One early childhood leader in McKinley County told Vox, “There is universal childcare, but at the same time, there are not enough providers.” She added, “Although it’s universal, it really isn’t accessible across the board.”

The problem is especially severe for infants and toddlers, who require more adults per child and are therefore more expensive to care for. Vox cited Legislative Finance Committee data showing the share of children under age 2 enrolled in the state’s assistance program dropped from 21.3% in 2020 to just 11.6% in 2025.

The result is exactly what critics warned about: a massive new government entitlement that sounds generous on paper but does not magically create workers, buildings, classrooms, or quality care.

The financial picture is no better.

Senate Bill 241, the Democrat-backed universal child care law, allows lawmakers to appropriate up to $700 million between 2026 and 2031 from the Early Childhood Education and Care Fund, according to the governor’s office. The fiscal year 2027 budget includes a $160 million increase for child care assistance, bringing the total child care budget to $606 million, plus another $30 million over three years for wage scale and career ladder support.

But legislative analysts warned that the plan does not create a new recurring revenue source to match the ongoing costs. The fiscal impact report for SB 241 states the bill’s $700 million transfer authority supports “near-term expenditures” but “does not establish a new recurring revenue source aligned with the projected ongoing costs of the program,” leaving long-term funding as a future recurring liability. The report estimated the incremental funding gap needed to sustain the expansion could reach approximately $340 million to $400 million annually by the close of fiscal year 2029.

Searchlight New Mexico reported in May that the Early Childhood Education and Care Department started overspending just weeks into the expansion, with Legislative Finance Committee analysts warning that unexpected enrollment increases could complicate budgeting in future years and raise questions about the program’s sustainability.

Even the Associated Press noted that lawmakers left the door open to future copayments if public finances deteriorate, despite Democrats’ sales pitch of “free” care for families of all income levels.

That is the problem with government freebies: eventually, the bill comes due.

The governor and her allies claimed New Mexico would be a “national model” for early childhood care and education. But Vox’s critique suggests New Mexico may instead become a national warning sign — proof that politicians cannot simply declare something “free,” subsidize demand, and expect supply, quality, and affordability problems to disappear.

The article also pointed to failed or troubled rollouts in places like Quebec and South Korea, where governments rapidly expanded subsidies without first building enough supply and workforce capacity. According to Vox, those efforts produced consequences ranging from years-long waitlists to quality concerns.

To be clear, Vox’s author wants universal child care to work. That is what makes the criticism so damning. This is not a conservative opponent saying the idea is unaffordable, unrealistic, and poorly executed. This is a supporter of the concept warning that New Mexico’s version is built on the same mistakes that have caused similar schemes to falter elsewhere.

New Mexico Democrats sold universal child care as a landmark achievement. But families cannot enroll their children in a press release. They need actual providers. They need actual classrooms. They need actual workers. And taxpayers need a program that does not blow through hundreds of millions of dollars while still failing to deliver what politicians promised.

Even Vox is now saying the quiet part out loud: New Mexico’s “free” universal child care experiment is not living up to the hype.