New Mexico will offer child care at no cost to all residents, regardless of incomes, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Monday, thus becoming the first U.S. state to offer universal free child care, she said.

The state Early Childhood Education and Care Department will begin writing rules to entirely remove the income eligibility threshold for a family to receive child care assistance by Nov. 1. The state currently waives parent copays on child care for families whose income is up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level.

“Child care is essential to family stability, workforce participation, and New Mexico’s future prosperity,” the governor said in a statement issued following a news conference. “By investing in universal child care, we are giving families financial relief, supporting our economy, and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow and thrive.”

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The free child care will save families on average $12,000 annually, the governor’s office said.

During Monday’s news conference, Lujan Grisham said reaching the milestone of free universal child care required asking the Legislature and New Mexico voters for sustainable sources of funding. New Mexico voters in 2022 passed a Constitutional Amendment that pushed state lawmakers to tap into a state fund and use it to build out the early childhood education system in the state.

“That was always the vision,” she said. “It took us this long to realize it, but by golly, we did.”

Along with the expanded access to free child care, the state in one week will allow entities like local governments and schools to start applying for low-interest loans to expand or create new child care facilities, under expanded rules to the state’s Child Care Facility Loan Fund passed in the most recent legislative session, Early Childhood Education and Care Department Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky said.

Between 12,000 and 13,000 new child care slots will open up as a result of 55 new licensed child care centers, 120 new licensed homes and 1,000 new registered homes, she noted.

“We see the interest, we’re also talking to industry leaders who are very interested in this, and also school superintendents,” Groginsky said. “I think it’s an all-in strategy from industry, business leaders, our schools and our community-based providers.”

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Lujan Grisham said universal child care is “the backbone of creating a system of support for families” that allow parents to go to work or college.

“It’s going to make New Mexico extremely attractive to build your business here,” Lujan Grisham said. “It’s going to make New Mexico extremely attractive to come here and raise your family.”

The new rule will also address pay for child care providers, the governor said. According to a handout at Monday’s news conference, under the proposed rule, providers will earn additional funding if they pay all entry-level workers at least $18 to $21 per hour and remain open at least 10 hours per day, five days per week.

Monday’s announcement builds on six years of progress in the state, said Dr. Neal Halfon, founding director of the University of California Los Angeles Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities. He said New Mexico is the first U.S. state to put in place a blueprint for “an ecosystem of early childhood supports,” including a first-of-its-kind statewide comprehensive, actionable data program.

“This portfolio of strategies — I’m telling you as an outsider — is a really big deal,” Halfson said. “As a developmental scientist, we’d like to see every place have this kind of scaffolding in place. This is a national model.”

In the most recent legislative session, lawmakers increased the department’s budget by $113 million to $995 million total, including $463 million specifically for child care, Groginsky said. The state in 2020 also created a new pot of money called the Early Childhood Trust Fund, which started at $320 million and now has $10 billion, Lt. Governor Howie Morales said during the news conference.