Colorado Officials Study New Mexico Free Childcare Model

The hum of a dozen conversations in a Denver convention center doesn’t sound like a crisis. It sounds like a busy Tuesday. But step outside the panel room at Colorado SunFest 2026, and the reality waiting for parents is stark: a child care bill that can eat half a monthly paycheck, or the quiet resignation of leaving a career behind because no one is available to watch the kids.

The question is whether Colorado can fix this without breaking the bank, or if it has to copy its neighbor to the south.

New Mexico pulled off something most states only dream of: free, full-time, year-round child care for every parent with an infant up to age 13. They did it with public dollars. They did it fast. Now, Colorado officials are looking at that model and asking what it would actually take to replicate it here.

"This is not just about keeping kids safe while parents work," says Elizabeth Groginsky, New Mexico’s secretary of the Early Childhood Education and Care Department. "It’s about recognizing that child care is infrastructure. It’s the foundation of the economy."

Groginsky spent her career building early learning systems, from Washington D.C. to leading United Way Worldwide’s early childhood efforts. She’s here to explain how New Mexico managed to roll out a program that covers the full cost of care for millions of families. The answer wasn’t just throwing money at the problem; it was restructuring how that money flows.

Colorado’s own leadership is listening. Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, has been in the trenches for over 30 years. She knows the local landscape better than anyone. She knows that while New Mexico went all-in on universal access for younger kids, Colorado is still wrestling with the basics of affordability and workforce retention.

The data supports her assessment, Roy says. "We have the infrastructure. We have the funding mechanisms. What we’ve lacked is the political will to scale it up to meet the demand."

But scaling up costs money. A lot of it.

Mary Alice Cohen, chief program officer at the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, oversees the licensing and subsidy programs that keep the lights on for thousands of providers. She’s the one who has to make sure that when the state expands access, the providers don’t go under because the reimbursement rates are too low to cover rent and wages.

"We’re looking at a system where the current subsidy rates barely cover a provider’s actual cost of operation," Cohen explains. "If we want to expand access, we have to fix the rates first. Otherwise, we’re just subsidizing poverty, not quality."

The contrast between the two states is sharp. New Mexico’s program is universal for ages 0-13. Colorado’s is a patchwork of subsidies, vouchers, and tax credits that leave many middle-income families stranded. They make too much for the lowest-tier help, but too little to afford market rates.

So, how do we get there?

Groginsky says New Mexico started by identifying the most vulnerable populations first — infants and toddlers in low-income households — and built out from there. It wasn’t perfect. There were growing pains. But the result is a system where a parent in Albuquerque doesn’t have to choose between a promotion and keeping their child in the same daycare they’ve used for two years.

Colorado is trying to do the same, but the political math is different.

The issue comes down to sustained investment, Groginsky says. "New Mexico committed to it. We didn’t just announce it. We funded it. And we’re seeing the returns in workforce participation and educational outcomes."

Roy agrees. She points to the new Department of Early Childhood, established just a few years ago, as a sign that the state is finally treating this with the seriousness it deserves. But she’s realistic about the timeline.

"We’re not going to get to New Mexico’s level overnight," Roy says. "But we’re moving in the right direction. The challenge is whether we’re willing to pay the price now, or if we’re going to keep paying the penalty later in lost productivity and lower wages."

The penalty, as many locals know, is already being paid. It’s in the empty desks at the office. It’s in the single-income households stretching to make rent. It’s in the teachers leaving the profession because they can’t afford to care for their own kids.

As the panel wraps up, the consensus is clear: the crisis is real, the solutions exist, and the cost of inaction is rising every day.

"We have the data," Cohen says. "We have the experts. We just need the courage to implement what we know works."

The verdict depends on execution.