Mississippi’s State Board of Education announced Monday that over $24 million in grants are going to 20 school districts to implement or improve pre-kindergarten programs.
According to a release, the purpose of the grants is to provide funding to support high-quality State Invested Pre-K (SIP) programs for 4-year-old children in districts that are not part of the Mississippi Department of Education’s Early Learning Collaborative program.
The funds will be used by 10 districts to renew their SIP programs and 10 additional districts to create new SIP programs. The first SIP programs in the state were implemented in August 2023 with a current-date total of 33 SIP programs serving up to 2,120 students in 109 classrooms.
The school districts that will create new SIP programs are Louisville, New Albany, Richton, Tate County, Western Line, Covington County, Forest Municipal, Meridian, Perry County, and Winona-Montgomery.
The school districts that renewed their SIP programs are Smith County, Newton Municipal, Jefferson Davis County, Union County, Bay St. Louis-Waveland, Vicksburg-Warren, Natchez Adams, Tupelo, Lauderdale, and Wayne County.
Districts in the below chart were granted $125,000 per classroom to work in partnership with the federally funded Head Start program that helps to provide comprehensive early childhood education.
Districts in the chart below were granted a portion of funding based on points achieved through the application process.
The Mississippi legislature appropriates state funding to provide public schools with SIP program funds. The programs are in line with benchmarks set by the National Institute for Early Education Research, according to the Board of Education.
The grant period is July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028. Awarding of the grant each year is contingent on the successful completion of services, a performance evaluation, and the availability of funds.
