Join our zero2eight Substack community for more discussion about the latest news in early care and education. Michelle Lujan Grisham in late 2025 announced the nation’s first universal childcare system. “New Mexico didn’t just wake up one morning and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to provide universal childcare,’ ” she said. The fund’s balance, which pays for universal childcare in large part, surpassed $11 billion earlier this year. “Just because we say we have universal childcare doesn’t mean that we have universal access,” she said.