{"id":30608,"date":"2023-11-17T21:28:13","date_gmt":"2023-11-18T04:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-getting-10-million-federal-grant-for-early-childhood-education\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:22:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:22:00","slug":"new-mexico-getting-10-million-federal-grant-for-early-childhood-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-getting-10-million-federal-grant-for-early-childhood-education\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico getting $10 million federal grant for early childhood education"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sen.
Sen. Martin Heinrich speaks to Rio Rancho Elementary students during an assembly celebrating the school being listed as one of ESPN\u2019s Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools for 2022. (Nicole Maxwell\/New Mexico Political Report)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n and U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fern\u00e1ndez, Melanie Stansbury, and Gabe Vasquez, all Democrats from New Mexico, recently announced that the state will receive $10 million in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to improve early childhood education.<\/p>\n

The state will get the funding via the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five program. The program \u201cempowers state governments to better leverage existing federal, state, and local early care and education investments,\u201d according to a news release from Heinrich\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The grants will support initiatives aimed at expanding access to early childhood care and education, the release said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis federal funding builds on the transformative work we\u2019ve done to invest in early childhood education and care across New Mexico,\u201d Heinrich said. \u201cBy giving our state the tools to better leverage existing investments, this grant provides us an even greater opportunity to change the trajectory of our state in a positive way \u2013 making sure every child across New Mexico has an opportunity to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luj\u00e1n expressed a similar sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly investments in young children\u2019s education are investments in the future of New Mexico,\u201d Luj\u00e1n said. \u201cWith $10 million in funding headed to preschool in our state, I\u2019m proud to welcome these investments to help support teachers and set students up for success. I remain committed to working to expand resources for students, including New Mexico\u2019s youngest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leger Fern\u00e1ndez said that the funding will help more students receive the same opportunities she did growing up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we invest in our students, we invest in the future of New Mexico and America,\u201d Leger Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cI began my own journey as a lifelong learner in the Head Start program. Today, I am grateful that this $10 million Preschool Development Grant will help our state\u2019s children access the same opportunity I had to learn and develop early on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stansbury praised the move, calling it an investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that investments into the education of our children have the largest returns to our community,\u201d Stansbury said. \u201cBy investing in the next generation of New Mexicans, we are investing in a brighter future for our state. I\u2019m thrilled to see this $10 million investment into our early childhood education system. This money will help New Mexicans to achieve their dreams in the future while opening pathways for parents with young children to pursue their dreams in the present.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plus, Vasquez said the money will improve the future of the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnsuring New Mexico\u2019s children have access to early childhood education helps secure a better future for our state,\u201d Vasquez said. \u201cI\u2019m proud to see this $10 million federal investment to our early care and education system. By bolstering programs that focus on children\u2019s early education, we are improving New Mexico\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New Mexico delegation has advocated for increased early childhood education and care spending from the federal government in recent years.<\/p>\n

For example, Heinrich supported the Omnibus Appropriations Agreement for Fiscal Year 2023 in December 2022 which included early childhood education funding for the state.<\/p>\n

Heinrich and Stansbury introduced the New Mexico Education Enhancement Act in 2021, seeking congressional approval for the state to invest Land Grant Permanent Fund money into early childhood education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

support initiatives aimed at expanding access to early childhood care and education<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81135,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30608\/revisions\/81135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30608"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}