SANTA FE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday afternoon issued the following statement after the New Mexico Senate unanimously confirmed Elizabeth Groginsky’s appointment as the state’s first-ever secretary of the new Early Childhood Education and Care Department:

“Today is a great day for New Mexico children and families and an important day for our administration’s concerted effort to improve childhood well-being in New Mexico. Elizabeth Groginsky has already earned the respect of the early childhood community in New Mexico – as underscored by the deeply positive testimony we heard in support of her confirmation today.

“Elizabeth has already demonstrated her quality in managing a new and growing state agency imbued with an awesome power and charged with immense responsibility – improving the health and education of New Mexico’s children. I am sure she – and this state – will rise to meet this moment.”

Earlier Friday the New Mexico Senate Rules Committee unanimously endorsed Groginsky’s confirmation.

The governor has charged the Legislature with making the 2020 legislative session a turning point for early childhood outcomes in New Mexico. She has proposed the Early Childhood Trust Fund; House Bill 83, co-sponsored by Sen. John Arthur Smith and Rep. Doreen Gallegos, is a $320 million investment in childhood and family well-being programs that will provide a self-sustaining revenue stream into the future.

The governor’s executive budget recommendation also included significant, long-overdue and sustainable increases in early childhood programming being transferred from different state agencies into the new Early Childhood Education and Care Department, which will formally launch July 1, 2020.