MLG’s “Fake News” on Early Childhood Education

On a variety of issues Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham seems to have a tenuous relationship at best with facts and science. Again, the Albuquerque Journal gave her space on its opinion pages for yet another article, this time on her push for “early childhood education.”

Set aside the fact that by her own hand New Mexico’s K-12 system was shut down for 1/4th of LAST year and THIS school year’s start is very much in doubt (even with a “hybrid” model, masks, and “social distancing.”

But, MLG wants to “keep the momentum going” on her latest big-spending plans for your children. MLG starts by stating that, “it’s important to understand that these rankings are based on 2018 data, the latest available. They also reflect years of budget cuts for essential early education and human services programs.” As shown in the report below from New Mexico Indepth, her statement is verifiably false.

Early childhood funding has risen every year, often rather dramatically. Rather than pushing for MORE spending on these programs, perhaps the Gov. should find out why our KIDS Count rating (even using 2018 data) hasn’t budged from 50th despite a massive expansion of early childhood programs over the last decade.

As an aside, while the Gov. pushes for more early childhood spending she recently attempted to get the State out of the Yazzie lawsuit which demands more K-12 spending.