New Mexico

New Mexico Business Weekly
Study Shows Early Childhood Education Quality Falling

New Mexico ranks near the bottom of a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) that shows that for the last 20 years the qualifications of the early childhood education (ECE) workforce nationwide has continued to fall so that now 30 percent of teachers and administrators have only a high school diploma or less.

The study attributes the trend to low wages and low teacher morale. It concludes that more ECE teachers are leaving child care centers for jobs in K-12 educational institutions and the effectiveness of early childhood education is losing ground.

At the start of this year, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson set aside $5 million for pre-kindergarten education, saying the funds were an important step toward helping youth get an early start to educational success.

New Mexico didn't fare well across the board in the category of wages. Teachers in the Land of Enchantment have the fourth lowest average hourly wage of the 43 states where data was available, with an average hourly pay rate of $7.48. The highest average wage reported was $12.40 per hour. This state ranked first for ECE teachers and administrators living 200 percent below the federal poverty level. The study said 44 percent of this state's early childhood education educators and administrators fell into that category.

Regarding teacher qualification standards in New Mexico, only 23 percent of teachers and administrators in this state have a college degree, the fifth lowest percentage of the 43 states studied.

The EPI study was conducted using responses from teachers and administrators in ECE programs that was collected over a 22-year period.

For more information on the study or to see the report, visit www.epi.org/content.cfm/ece.