Early Learning Collaboratives; expand to provide in every school district by the start of the 2030-2031 school year.

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To: Education;
Appropriations A
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026

By: Representatives McCarty, McLean

HOUSE BILL NO. 1215

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-21-51, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, 1
TO REQUIRE THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO BEGIN A PHASED-IN 2
EXPANSION OF EARLY LEARNING COLLABORATIVES EFFECTIVE WITH THE 3
2026-2027 SCHOOL YEAR THROUGH THE 2030-2031 SCHOOL YEAR; AND FOR 4
RELATED PURPOSES. 5
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 6
SECTION 1. Section 37-21-51, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 7
amended as follows: 8
37-21-51. (1) As used in this section: 9
(a) "Preschool or prekindergarten children" means any 10
children who have not entered kindergarten but will have obtained 11
four (4) years of age on or before September 1 of a school year. 12
(b) An "early learning collaborative" is a district or 13
countywide council that writes and submits an application to 14
participate in the voluntary prekindergarten program. An early 15
learning collaborative is comprised, at a minimum, of a public 16
school district and/or a local Head Start affiliate if in 17
existence, private or parochial schools, or one or more licensed 18
child care centers. Agencies or other organizations that work 19
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with young children and their families may also participate in the 20
collaborative to provide resources and coordination even if those 21
agencies or organizations are not prekindergarten providers. 22
(c) A "prekindergarten provider" is a public, private 23
or parochial school, licensed child care center or Head Start 24
center that serves prekindergarten children and participates in 25
the voluntary prekindergarten program. 26
(d) A "lead partner" is a public school district or 27
other nonprofit entity with the instructional expertise and 28
operational capacity to manage the early learning collaborative's 29
prekindergarten program as described in the collaborative's 30
approved application for funds. The lead partner serves as the 31
fiscal agent for the collaborative and shall disburse awarded 32
funds in accordance with the collaborative's approved application. 33
The lead partner must facilitate a professional learning community 34
for the teachers in the prekindergarten program and lead the 35
collaborative. The lead partner ensures that the collaborative 36
adopts and implements curriculum and assessments that align with 37
the comprehensive early learning standards. The public school 38
district shall be the lead partner if no other qualifying lead 39
partner is selected. 40
(e) "Comprehensive early learning standards" are 41
standards adopted by the State Board of Education that address the 42
highest level of fundamental domains of early learning to include, 43
but not be limited to, physical well-being and motor development, 44
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social/emotional development, approaches toward learning, language 45
development and cognition and general knowledge. The 46
comprehensive early learning standards shall also include 47
standards for emergent literacy skills, including oral 48
communication, knowledge of print and letters, phonological and 49
phonemic awareness, and vocabulary and comprehension development. 50
(f) An "evidence-based curriculum" is an 51
age-appropriate curriculum that demonstrates a statistically 52
significant effect on improving student outcomes or other relevant 53
outcomes based on: 54
(i) Strong evidence from at least one (1) 55
well-designed and well-implemented experimental study; 56
(ii) Moderate evidence from at least one (1) 57
well-designed and well-implemented quasi-experimental study; or 58
(iii) Promising evidence from at least one (1) 59
well-designed and well-implemented correlational study with 60
statistical controls for selection bias. 61
(2) To ensure that all children have access to quality early 62
childhood education and development services, the Legislature 63
finds and declares the following: 64
(a) Parents have the primary duty to educate their 65
young preschool children; 66
(b) The State of Mississippi can assist and educate 67
parents in their role as the primary caregivers and educators of 68
young preschool children; 69
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(c) There is a need to explore innovative approaches 70
and strategies for aiding parents and families in the education 71
and development of young preschool children; and 72
(d) There exists a patchwork of prekindergarten 73
entities but no coordination of services and there needs to be a 74
coordination of these services. 75
(3) (a) This subsection shall be known and may be cited as 76
the "Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013." 77
(b) Effective with the 2013-2014 school year, the 78
Mississippi State Department of Education shall establish a 79
voluntary prekindergarten program, which shall be a collaboration 80
among the entities providing prekindergarten programs including 81
Head Start, licensed child care facilities and licensed public, 82
parochial and private school prekindergarten programs. This 83
program shall be implemented no later than the 2014-2015 school 84
year. Enrollment in the prekindergarten program shall be 85
coordinated with the Head Start agencies in the local areas and 86
shall not be permitted to cause a reduction in children served by 87
the Head Start program. Under this program, eligible entities may 88
submit an application for funds to (i) defray the cost of 89
additional and/or more qualified teaching staff, appropriate 90
educational materials and equipment and to improve the quality of 91
educational experiences offered to four-year-old children in early 92
care and education programs, and/or to (ii) extend developmentally 93
appropriate education services at such programs currently serving 94
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four-year-old children to include practices of high quality 95
instruction, and to (iii) administer, implement, monitor and 96
evaluate the programs, and to (iv) defray the cost of professional 97
development and age-appropriate child assessment. 98
(c) Subject to the availability of funds appropriated 99
therefor, the State Department of Education shall administer the 100
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the voluntary 101
prekindergarten program, including awards and the application 102
process. 103
(i) The department shall establish a rigorous and 104
transparent application process for the awarding of funds. Lead 105
partners shall submit the applications on behalf of their early 106
learning collaborative. 107
(ii) The department will establish monitoring 108
policies and procedures that, at a minimum, will include at least 109
one (1) site visit a year. 110
(iii) The department will provide technical 111
assistance to collaboratives and their providers to improve the 112
quality of prekindergarten programs. Technical assistance may 113
include classroom-embedded support for teachers and assistant 114
teachers. 115
(iv) The department will evaluate the 116
effectiveness of each early childhood collaborative and each 117
prekindergarten provider. If the State Department of Education 118
adopts a statewide kindergarten screening that assesses the 119
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readiness of each student for kindergarten, the State Department 120
of Education shall adopt a minimum rate of readiness that each 121
prekindergarten provider must meet in order to remain eligible for 122
prekindergarten program funds. Each parent who enrolls his or her 123
child in the prekindergarten program must submit the child for the 124
statewide kindergarten screening, regardless of whether the child 125
is admitted to kindergarten in a public school. 126
(d) Prekindergarten program funds shall be awarded to 127
early childhood collaboratives whose proposed programs meet the 128
program criteria. The criteria shall include: 129
(i) Voluntary enrollment of children; 130
(ii) Collaboration among prekindergarten providers 131
and other early childhood programs through the establishment of an 132
early learning collaborative; 133
(iii) Qualifications of master teachers, teachers 134
and assistants, which must conform to guidelines in Section 135
37-21-3; 136
(iv) At least fifteen (15) hours of annual 137
professional development for program instructional staff, 138
including professional development in early literacy, and 139
individualized professional development plans for all teachers and 140
teaching assistants supplemented by classroom-embedded support on 141
an as-needed basis; 142
(v) The use of state-adopted comprehensive early 143
learning standards; 144
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(vi) The use of a curriculum based on strong 145
evidence as defined in subsection (1)(f)(i) of this section and 146
aligned with the comprehensive early learning standards; 147
(vii) The use of a curriculum based on moderate 148
evidence as defined in subsection (1)(f)(ii) of this section and 149
aligned with the comprehensive early learning standards if no 150
strong-evidence curriculum is available; 151
(viii) The use of a curriculum based on promising 152
evidence as defined in subsection (1)(f)(iii) of this section and 153
aligned with the comprehensive early learning standards if no 154
strong-evidence curriculum or moderate-evidence curriculum is 155
available; 156
(ix) The use of age-appropriate assessments 157
aligned to the comprehensive early learning standards; 158
(x) Teacher/child ratios of one (1) adult for 159
every ten (10) children with a maximum of twenty (20) children per 160
classroom and a minimum of five (5) children per classroom; 161
(xi) The provision of at least one (1) meal 162
meeting state and federal nutrition guidelines for young children; 163
(xii) Plans to screen and/or refer children for 164
vision, hearing and other health issues; 165
(xiii) Family engagement opportunities; 166
(xiv) Plans to serve children with disabilities as 167
indicated under IDEA; 168
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(xv) The number of instructional hours to be 169
provided, which shall equal no less than five hundred forty (540) 170
instructional hours per school year for half-day programs and one 171
thousand eighty (1,080) instructional hours per school year for 172
full-day programs; and 173
(xvi) A budget detailing the use of funds for 174
allowed expenses. 175
Participating child care centers shall: (a) meet state child 176
care facility licensure requirements unless exempted under Section 177
43-20-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, and (b) select and utilize a 178
nationally recognized assessment tool, approved by the State 179
Department of Education, designed to document classroom quality, 180
which must be in place not later than July 1, 2016, as certified 181
by the State Department of Education. 182
Within the prekindergarten program, a prekindergarten 183
provider must comply with the antidiscrimination requirements 184
applicable to public schools. A prekindergarten provider may not 185
discriminate against a parent or child, including the refusal to 186
admit a child for enrollment in the prekindergarten program, in 187
violation of these antidiscrimination requirements. However, a 188
prekindergarten provider may refuse to admit a child based on the 189
provider's standard eligibility guidelines, provided that these 190
guidelines do not violate the antidiscrimination requirements. 191
Consistent with the Legislature's recognition of the primacy of a 192
parent's role in the education of a preschool-age child and the 193
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related recognition of the state in assisting and educating 194
parents in that role, if the State Department of Education adopts 195
a statewide kindergarten screening that assesses the readiness of 196
each student for kindergarten, the State Department of Education 197
shall recognize each child's unique pattern of development when 198
adopting a minimum rate of readiness that prekindergarten 199
providers must meet in order to remain eligible for 200
prekindergarten program funds. Each parent who enrolls his or her 201
child in the prekindergarten program may submit the child for the 202
statewide kindergarten screening, regardless of whether the child 203
is admitted to kindergarten in a public school. 204
The State Department of Education may add program criteria 205
not inconsistent with these requirements and shall develop 206
policies and procedures to implement and enforce these criteria. 207
(e) The State Department of Education shall ensure that 208
early learning collaboratives provide each parent enrolling a 209
child in the voluntary prekindergarten program with a profile of 210
every prekindergarten provider participating in the 211
collaborative's geographic catchment area. The State Department 212
of Education shall prescribe the information to be included in 213
each profile as well as the format of the profiles. At a minimum, 214
the profiles must include the prekindergarten provider's services, 215
curriculum, instructor credentials and instructor-to-student 216
ratio. 217
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(f) A teacher, assistant teacher or other employee 218
whose salary and fringe benefits are paid from state funds under 219
this act shall only be classified as a state or local school 220
district employee eligible for state health insurance benefits or 221
membership in the Public Employees' Retirement System, if the 222
person's employer is already an agency or instrumentality of the 223
state, such as a school district, and the employee would be 224
eligible for such benefits in the normal course of business. 225
(g) Funding shall be provided for this program 226
beginning with the 2014 fiscal year subject to appropriation by 227
the Legislature as provided in paragraph (h) of this subsection. 228
The department shall make an annual report to the Legislature and 229
the Governor regarding program operations and outcomes. Every 230
three (3) years, with the first report due July 1, 2023, the 231
department shall provide to the Legislature and the Governor a 232
rigorous evaluation of program effectiveness using longitudinal 233
data to measure short-term and long-term effects, including both 234
achievement and nonachievement effects. After each three-year 235
report, the PEER Committee shall review the three-year report and 236
the intervening annual reports and submit an independent summary 237
of its findings prior to the next legislative session. The 238
short-term and long-term effects shall include, at a minimum, the 239
following: 240
(i) Kindergarten readiness; 241
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(ii) English Language arts proficiency in grades 3 242
through 8; 243
(iii) Math proficiency in grades 3 through 8; 244
(iv) Science proficiency in grades 5 and 8; 245
(v) Disciplinary incidents; 246
(vi) Chronic absenteeism; 247
(vii) On-time graduation rate; 248
(viii) College enrollment; 249
(ix) Grade retention; and 250
(x) Special education services/exits. 251
(h) (i) The Legislature shall appropriate funds to 252
implement the Early Education Collaborative Act of 2013 on a 253
phased-in basis as follows: 254
1. The first phase shall be based on an 255
annual state appropriation of not more than Eight Million Dollars 256
($8,000,000.00) and shall serve approximately three thousand five 257
hundred (3,500) children through five (5) to eight (8) early 258
learning collaboratives and their prekindergarten providers; 259
2. The second phase shall be based on an 260
annual state appropriation of not more than Sixteen Million 261
Dollars ($16,000,000.00) and shall serve approximately seven 262
thousand (7,000) children through ten (10) to fifteen (15) early 263
learning collaboratives and their prekindergarten providers; 264
3. The third phase shall be based on an 265
annual state appropriation of not more than Thirty-three Million 266
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Nine Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($33,950,000.00) and shall 267
serve approximately fifteen thousand (15,000) children through 268
twenty (20) to twenty-five (25) early learning collaboratives and 269
their prekindergarten providers. 270
(ii) Future phases shall be based on interest in 271
the program and the effectiveness of the program as determined by 272
the school readiness of participants. Each phase shall last for 273
at least three (3) years, but no more than five (5) years. The 274
State Department of Education shall determine when to move to a 275
new phase of the program, within the timeline provided herein. 276
(iii) Funding shall be provided to early learning 277
collaboratives on the basis of a minimum of Two Thousand Five 278
Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00) per student in a full-day program and 279
a minimum of One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($1,250.00) 280
per student in a half-day program proposed in the collaborative's 281
approved application. Once an early learning collaborative's plan 282
is approved and funded, the collaborative and/or its 283
prekindergarten providers shall receive funds on an ongoing basis 284
unless the collaborative and/or its prekindergarten providers no 285
longer meet the criteria to participate in the program. 286
(iv) Early learning collaboratives shall match 287
state funds on a 1:1 basis. Local matching funds may include 288
local tax dollars, federal dollars as allowed, parent tuition, 289
philanthropic contributions, or in-kind donations of facilities, 290
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equipment and services required as part of the program such as 291
food service or health screenings. 292
(v) The State Department of Education shall 293
reserve no more than five percent (5%) of the appropriation in any 294
year for administrative costs. 295
(vi) In the initial phase of implementation, the 296
State Department of Education shall award state funds under the 297
Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013 based on a community's 298
capacity, commitment and need. To determine capacity, commitment 299
and need, the State Department of Education shall require evidence 300
of existing strong local collaborations of early education 301
stakeholders. Such evidence shall include, but not be limited to, 302
collaborations resulting from any of the following: 303
1. Participation in Excel By 5; 304
2. Participation in Supporting Partnerships 305
to Assure Ready Kids (SPARK); 306
3. Participation in the Gilmore Early 307
Learning Initiative (GELI); or 308
4. Participation in the Mississippi Building 309
Blocks. 310
In determining community need, the department shall consider 311
low academic achievement within the public school districts 312
participating in an applicant early learning collaborative and the 313
number and percentage of children without quality prekindergarten 314
options. 315
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ST: Early Learning Collaboratives; expand to
provide in every school district by the start of
the 2030-2031 school year.
(vii) All authority granted to the State 316
Department of Education to establish program rules is subject to 317
the public processes established in the provisions of the 318
Mississippi Administrative Procedures Law, including, but not 319
limited to, filing notice of the proposed rules, public hearings 320
and any economic impact statement with the Office of the Secretary 321
of State before presenting such information to the State Board of 322
Education for final approval. 323
(viii) Effective with the 2026-2027 school year, 324
the State Department of Education shall begin a phased-in 325
expansion of Early Learning Collaboratives until the 2030-2031 326
school year, by proportionately establishing collaboratives in 327
school districts throughout the state until each of the state's 328
one hundred thirty-seven (137) school districts has a voluntary 329
prekindergarten program. At a minimum, the department shall 330
endeavor to establish twenty (20) collaboratives annually. 331
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from 332
and after July 1, 2026. 333