Senate Bill 2601: Amending the Duties of the State Early Childhood Advisory Council

January 25, 2023February 13, 2023 Bill Tracker

Latest Action

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The Senate Education Committee failed to take action on SB 2601 by the January 31 deadline, causing this bill to die in committee.

Explanation of the Bill

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SB 2601 would extend the duties and responsibilities of the State Early Childhood Advisory Council (SECAC). It would also create additional members of the council who would be appointed by the Speaker of the House and the Lieutenant Governor. 

Expanded Responsibilities

SECAC is housed in the Governor’s Office and was created due to the 2007 reauthorization of the Head Start Act. SECAC is an advisory board. As stated by SECAC, they are “a group of advisors, but [also] liaisons between the governor’s office and administrative agencies and providers.” The role of SECAC is to “inform early education and care in Mississippi by making recommendations.”

This bill would expand SECAC’s responsibilities with the goal of coordinating and aligning various state agencies who serve preschool-age children. SECAC would gain the power to leverage various agencies’ resources, align processes, and reduce duplicative paperwork and processes. 

To create better alignment between agencies, SECAC would be required to: 

• jointly conduct monitoring or evaluation visits;
• develop common forms of paperwork;
• share compliance and other data across agencies; 
• coordinate policy recommendations for early learning collaboratives; 
• and develop standards for core competency for teachers through continuing professional development.

This bill would greatly expand the role and responsibilities of SECAC, an organization that historically has struggled to find its footing among competing interests and agendas brought by SECAC members and outside parties hoping to use SECAC for their own ends. SECAC is in the middle of a reset of expectations, tone, and culture, and tasking them with such responsibilities may reignite dysfunctional behaviors among some in the early childhood community. The aim of this legislation is admirable, but there may be a more efficient solution to encouraging greater alignment among agencies, such as an agency-specific steering committee. 

Appointees

Two additional positions would be added to the existing membership of the SECAC; however with many representatives already, these two new positions may not necessarily exert significant influence. Of the two new positions, one representative would be appointed by the Speaker of the House and one representative would be appointed by the Lieutenant Governor.