Preschool Development Grant in Mississippi

Editor’s Note: This post is one in an ongoing series of posts dedicated to the federal role in early childhood in Mississippi.

By Micayla Tatum, Director of Early Childhood Policy

This blog post is the third in a series that highlights the impact of federal funding for early childhood on both families and communities throughout the state. Our focus in this blog post is the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG). You can revisit our previous two posts in the series about Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant. 

In Mississippi, PDG funds many activities that help educators create a higher-quality early childhood environment for children. PDG also helps families and children access a more aligned and cohesive system in their earliest years. The current proposal from the White House for Federal Fiscal Year 2026 (FFY 26) eliminates PDG funding, though the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has recently proposed level-funding the program at FFY 25 levels.¹ Depending on the actions of Congress in the next month, Mississippians may lose access to the PDG, which is the only source of public funding available to build and maintain a high-quality early childhood infrastructure for children ages 0-5.

What is the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five? 

The PDG is a federal, competitive grant, created in 2015, that states can apply for to improve the quality of their early childhood systems. Essentially, the PDG encourages early childhood programs and agencies to strategically partner and leverage their resources with the goal of promoting higher levels of school readiness by increasing access to early childhood services. 

PDG in Mississippi

In early 2023, Mississippi was awarded a PDG for over $30M to be spent over the course of three years. The goals of the grant were to:

• increase high-quality care and education experiences,
• create a more aligned mixed-delivery system with stronger service for children with special needs,² 
• build a more sustainable and prepared early childhood workforce,
• develop a new model for a quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) that supports higher-quality for childcare providers while meeting them where they are, and 
• increase family and provider engagement.

With these goals as a guide, Mississippi used its grant funds to conduct many projects throughout the state, including:

• offering childcare subsidy bonuses for childcare programs employing bilingual providers, 
• training 100 childcare teachers on social-emotional competencies for young children, 
• piloting a new Quality Support System,
• coaching 100 teachers on best practices for creating inclusive environments for special needs students,
• hosting a family engagement conference, and
• employing coaches to help early childhood teachers learn national best practices. 

Learn more about the projects funded by the PDG here. 

PDG in the Future

Mississippi is anticipating a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for a new round of PDGs in September 2025. According to the NOFO, the focus of the PDG will remain largely the same, though there is a new focus on creating systems that maximize parent choice.

In May 2025, the White House submitted its proposal for FFY 26 appropriations. The proposed budget eliminated the PDG.  If PDG is eliminated as a result of this proposal, it is not anticipated to affect the new round of PDGs, but there would be no additional PDG funding beyond 2025. However, continued funding for PDG has resurfaced in the Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which was passed by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee on July 31. This bill now faces a challenging road ahead, as it must secure passage in both houses of Congress by September 30, 2025.

As it stands, the PDG is the only source of federal funding that helps build infrastructure for our fragmented early childhood system. Our current structure often leaves families to navigate multiple systems without a clear understanding of the quality or type of offerings available to them. Additionally, providers are forced to navigate multiple funding streams and state agencies that often have different requirements. The PDG works to demystify this system for families and providers by building strong connections between programs. In addition, it aims to create a stronger infrastructure for early childhood, which is key to building a sustainable and effective system for the families and children of Mississippi. 

Mississippi First is committed to ensuring children have access to high-quality early childhood services, and we’ll be following this issue. Stay tuned by following us on Facebook, X, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

1. The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30 of the following year. ↩︎
2. A mixed-delivery system provides early childhood services through a number of providers, often including public schools, Head Start centers, childcare providers, private schools, or family childcare homes. The goal of these systems is to maximize available options and provide families with choice in their early learning and care options. ↩︎