Mississippi First authored the Leaving Last in Line report and successfully advocated for the Early Learning Collaborative Act, which established state-funded pre-K in Mississippi in 2013.
Since 2013, the legislature has appropriated over $80M for the Early Learning Collaborative Act. With these funds, MDE operates 36 early learning collaborative programs. 25% of four-year-olds across the state have access to high-quality state-funded pre-K as a result. The law also established a 1:1 tax credit for individuals and corporations that support the local matching fund of an approved early learning collaborative.
Early Learning Collaboratives
Early Learning Collaboratives are state-funded four-year-old pre-K programs that are required to meet high-quality standards.
Below is a map of Mississippi’s early learning collaboratives (ELCs), with school districts with ELCs labeled in red. Hover over and click for more information about each ELC.
Do you want to start a pre-K program in your community?
We created two toolkits to help you start an Early Learning Collaborative or a Title I-Funded Pre-K program in your community.