SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico now has its first-ever state secretary of Early Childhood Education and Care Department.
The New Mexico Senate on Friday unanimously confirmed education official Elizabeth Groginsky to the job, leading a new government department created last year.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Groginsky to the cabinet post in November.
The 53-year-old Groginsky is a former Washington, D.C.-based education official. She has been working full time on early child care since 2003, when she was a county administrator of the Head Start early childhood program in Colorado. She later analyzed the statewide program.
Her new department will consolidate early childhood initiatives that range from prenatal programs to services for children from birth to age 5.
She said New Mexico and the entire country have a fragmented system and limited funding for children.
“It’s a patchwork quilt, and it’s got some holes,” she said.
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