By: State Representative Mark Duncan
Whether you support Gregg Hull or Deb Haaland to be New Mexico’s next governor, this November’s election has one overwhelming reality in that our next governor will be tasked with charting a new direction for our state.
For too long, New Mexico’s families have been told to accept being last. We are last in education. We are last in child well-being. However, our state budget has increased by more than 75 percent since the current governor took office, and still nothing has changed.
For example, in Fiscal Year 2019, our state spent $313 million on early childhood programs. By Fiscal Year 2027, that spending has skyrocketed to over $1 billion. Yet, we are still ranked 49th for child well-being. Money alone does not make our kids safer or healthier.
Equally important, our public assistance programs should be designed to act as a safety net. A safety net that helps people when they fall but helps them get back on their feet in the future. Instead, Santa Fe has built a “Snare Net” which traps families in a lifetime of government dependency and punishes hard work.
If a NM married couple with two kids makes $45,000 per year and receives a $5,000 pay raise, they would expect to make $416 more per month. But because of the Cliff Effect inherent in public assistance programs, this family would lose $625 per month in housing benefits, lose $100 per month in food assistance, and pay an additional $350 per month for health care. Instead of making $415 more per month, the family’s income declines by $659 per month. In other words, earning a pay raise hurts, making underemployment the only logical choice for lower-income families to survive.
The Cliff Effect is real, and it prevents families from the upward mobility that defines the American Dream. We need to eliminate this result from the “Snare Net” to really make a difference in people’s lives. Our public schools are riddled with unacceptable student outcomes, yet our schools tell families everything is fine to hide these failures. A recent NM survey showed 88% of parents believe their child reads at or above grade level, yet statewide assessment data tells a different story: only 44% of students are proficient in reading.
This is the soft bigotry of low expectations. We are graduating kids who lack basic, real-world skills. Today, 32,000 young New Mexicans are either not in school or not working, costing taxpayers $623 million every year. At the same time, state agencies are wasting millions of dollars. Our food assistance program (SNAP) has a 16.81% payment error rate. Because state workers fail to properly verify recipients’ income, New Mexico’s taxpayers face up to a $173 million in federal penalties.
Our families and kids deserve better, and we don’t have to accept being last anymore. We can enact smart policies to improve lives and outcomes. We can eliminate disincentives to work, stop state administrative waste, and expand proven career programs like Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG-NM).
But to do this, we need a new leadership team. We cannot fix a broken system with the same failed leaders in charge. If we want to replace the “Snare Net” with true opportunity, we need a governor who values work, accountability, and the future of our children.
This November New Mexicans have an opportunity to vote for real change. Gregg Hull has the vision to give families the help to move them out of the “Snare Net” and into prosperity. I urge you to vote for Gregg Hull for Governor this November.
