{"id":69575,"date":"2015-07-29T01:00:46","date_gmt":"2015-07-29T07:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=69575"},"modified":"2015-07-29T23:53:59","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T05:53:59","slug":"thank-goodness-for-mississippi-shouldnt-be-nms-motto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/07\/thank-goodness-for-mississippi-shouldnt-be-nms-motto\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Thank goodness for Mississippi\u2019 shouldn\u2019t be NM\u2019s motto"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Heath<\/a>

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

COMMENTARY:<\/strong> Last week\u2019s news was disappointingly familiar: New Mexico ranks 49th in child well-being<\/a> in 2015. Again.<\/p>\n

We had the usual discussion about ideas for improvement. The loudest pitch was for spending tens of millions of dollars a year from the state\u2019s $14 billion permanent fund on early-childhood programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe solution is right in front of us,\u201d State Rep. Javier Mart\u00ednez wrote on Facebook<\/a>. He called the permanent-fund proposal \u201cthe type of transformational policy that can make impactful change.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t get enthusiastic about such ideas. We\u2019ve been here before.<\/p>\n

New Mexico has been one of the worst states for children for so long that many of us leave to raise our kids elsewhere. And too many little ones \u2013 like Brianna Lopez<\/a> and Leland Valdez<\/a> \u2013 don\u2019t even get to grow up because we kill them.<\/p>\n

As a native New Mexican who is raising my daughter here, I think the permanent-fund proposal is worth considering. A child\u2019s early years are formative. Societal investment at that stage is critical.<\/p>\n

But the idea that any policy change is \u201cthe solution\u201d is simpleminded.<\/p>\n

I believe Mart\u00ednez, who is raising two children in our state<\/a>, and others pitching ideas are trying to help. But real change requires acting with more depth and nuance.<\/p>\n

New Mexico hasn\u2019t ranked better than 46th in child wellbeing in the last decade<\/a>. We\u2019ve never ranked above 40th<\/a> in the 25 years the Annie E. Casey Foundation has scored states.<\/p>\n

A list of changes<\/h3>\n

Here are some changes we\u2019ve made in recent decades that were called potentially transformative for our citizens:<\/p>\n