Lowndes County School District in collaboration with Coleman Head Start Center joins 34 other approved areas for the Mississippi Department of Education’s Early Learning Collaborative.
The district was officially approved for the pre-kindergarten program in August, and officials are beginning to sit down to discuss details of the program.
Kristie Jones, federal programs director for the district, spoke to the board on Friday afternoon about the program’s benefits, including adding pre-k classes and the state tax credit from donations.
“We were approved for a three-year grant for 11 pre-k classes, which is a total of 220 students,” Jones said. “Nine of those classes will be in the Lowndes County School District, and two of those will be at Coleman Head Start.
The ELC Act, passed statewide in 2013, authorizes and directs MDE to implement a pre-k program. The districts approved for the program receive a grant from the state, and Jones said LCSD was given a total of $1.65 million to divvy out $550,000 for the program each year.
The grant requires the district to spend $5,000 per student; $2,500 will come from the grant and the other half will come from a match.
“We can match that money several different ways,” Jones said. “We can do it through our federal dollars, our tuition, our state and local dollars but also donations. When the state legislature wrote this grant in 2013, they offered a way for citizens and businesses in the state of Mississippi to donate or invest in the early learning programs. Part of that is a dollar-for-dollar state tax credit.”
Superintendent Sam Allison said he and Jones are taking the year to plan, and they are continuing discussions regarding the specifics such as deciding factors for which students will be prioritized for the program and what donation funds will go to.
Donations are not limited. They can be used to update playground equipment or whatever the donors see fit within the ELC program.
Jones said she will begin to visit businesses and industries within Lowndes County to speak with them about the benefit of donating to the ELC for both the business and education.
Though the current grant is only for three years, Jones said it can be expanded early to add more classes. There are currently seven pre-k classes within the district, so the grant will allow two more to be added in LCSD.
Allison said the value of pre-k for four-year-olds is incredibly important for their education.
“The more we’re able to offer, the better we’ll be,” Allison said. “… Pre-k is huge for early development.”
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