The Oakland Area Chamber of Commerce is one of only nine grants awarded for Early Childhood Education Planning by the Children’s Foundation of Mississippi.
CFM Executive Director Dr. Linda Southward said nearly 60 grant applications were received. She came to Oakland last Monday to meet with members of the newly established Oakland Early Childhood Education Council.
The grant will be used to explore the barriers to early childhood education in the Oakland area.
Alisia Bland of Oakland serves as the project coordinator for the grant.
“We are so excited about this grant. We have already assembled the council, which is comprised of business, parents, educators, elected officials and health care providers,” Bland noted. “The primary work of the council in the planning process is to determine needs and develop a plan for providing services suggested by the needs assessment.”
Members of both the council and the chamber were guests of the Charleston Rotary Club and state Rep. Tommy Reynolds last Wednesday to hear reports from both the Grenada School District and the East Tallahatchie School District on their participation in the state’s Early Learning Collaboratives (ELCs).
The Collaboratives are partnerships among school districts, Head Start agencies, child care centers and nonprofit organizations with legislative funding available to establish the ELCs.
Grenada School Superintendent Dr. David Daigneault and East Tallahatchie School Superintendent Marvell Hudson both shared how the pre-K program works in their schools and the effort they put into coordinating with both Head Start and local child care centers. The payoff has been significant with pre-K Impact Scores above the average. In Grenada, the scores are 155 points above the target score.
Leigh Sargent, of the Tallahatchie Early Learning Alliance (TELA), spoke about the mechanism the legislature put in place that allows tax credits for those who designate their tax payments to the ELCs.
“Collaborative dollars stay in your community,” she said, explaining that TELA has used funds to improve salaries for Head Start teachers to be more closely aligned with those in the school district as well as for improvements to playground equipment.
The Mississippi State Board of Education voted in August to add five new ELCs to the current list of 30 to provide high-quality early childhood education pre-K programs to 4-year-old students.
The ELC expansion was made possible by $5.9 million in state funds to be used by June 2025.
State funding for the ELC program has steadily increased over the years, starting with a $3 million appropriation in 2013-14 when the program began, to $24 million for the 2022-23 school year. The total state appropriation for the ELC program so far is $70.3 million.
The main goal of establishing ELCs is to better prepare preschoolers for kindergarten. In 2022, the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) recognized Mississippi as one of only five states that met all quality standards for pre-K.
Additionally, the planning grant from the CFM will allow Oakland to explore becoming an Excel by 5 Community, ensuring that all children are prepared for kindergarten and ready to excel in their academic career. Council members will meet with representatives from Excel by 5 in early November.
