JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – The Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) voted on Thursday, April 21, 2022, to add seven new early learning collaboratives (ELC) to the current list of 23 to provide high-quality early childhood education pre-K programs to 4-year-old students.
The ELC expansion is made possible by $15.4 million in grants from state funds for the 2021-22 school year. Appropriations for ELCs have steadily increased since the 2014-15 school year to a cumulative total of $51 million, including $8 million in 2020-21.
The new ELCs are:
- Jackson Public Schools – Hinds Early Learning Collaborative
- Noxubee Early Learning Collaborative
- Senatobia Early Learning Collaborative
- Holmes Early Learning Collaborative
- Leland Early Learning Collaborative
- Long Beach Early Learning Collaborative
- Pontotoc Pre-K Partners Early Learning Collaborative (Pontotoc City only)
The seven new ELCs will serve 2,050 pre-K 4-year-olds in 35 new classrooms and 72 existing classrooms, bringing the total number of ELC students to more than 6,000. The total number of pre-K 4-year-olds served since the 2014-15 school year is more than 21,000.
MDE’s Office of Early Childhood oversees the ELC program.