Mississippi, like all states, has a unique early childhood policy landscape that is shaped by economics, demographics, political history, coalitions, and other factors that create a state-specific environment for policy advocacy.
State early childhood policy progress is dependent both on the state’s environment and the numerous efforts—by the organizations listed on this page, other organizations, parents, policymakers, practitioners, and more—who work both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.
Research shows that family economic security is foundational to children’s overall wellbeing. Research also shows that widespread disparities in opportunity (especially by race) drive wide disparities in outcomes. States with policies that offer strong support to young children and their families are more likely to see 1) declining numbers of children in low-income households and 2) low racial disparity among those children.
Young Children in Low-Income Households: Declining
Approximately 52% (159,000) of the state’s children 0-8 live in households below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (2022). This number represents a decrease from 53% (175,000) in 2016.1
Racial Disparity Among Young Children Living in Low-Income Households: High
Black, Hispanic/Latino, and/or Native children aged 0-8 are significantly more likely to be living in households below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level than are Asian and non-Hispanic White children.2
State General Fund Appropriations: Growing
In 2024, Mississippi’s governor signed a series of bills making up the state budget for fiscal 2025, which authorizes $7.87 billion in state support funds, a decrease of $184 million, or 2.3 percent, from fiscal 2024. General fund appropriations total $7.03 billion in fiscal 2025, an increase of $329 million, or 4.9 percent, over fiscal 2024. General fund revenues are projected at $7.6 billion, a 1.01 percent increase from the current year. The budget sets aside 2 percent of projected revenue, or $152 million, as required by law. The legislature retained $1.67 billion in reserve funds that is available to address a shortfall in revenues or fiscal 2025 deficits.3
Largest Per Capita Revenue Sources (after federal transfers) (FY 2021):4
Charges are public payments connected with a specific government service, such as tuition paid to a state university, payments to a public hospital, or highway tolls.
State Budget Rules:4
Mississippi uses an annual budget. The legislature must pass a balanced budget and is prohibited from carrying a deficit over into the following year. Mississippi further limits both spending and revenue growth with binding rules that require a legislative supermajority or vote of the people to override. A three-fifths supermajority is also required for legislation that raises taxes or revenue. The state also limits total authorized debt incurred by the state.
Political Alignment: Aligned Republican
During the 2024 session, the state’s Senate and House were both Republican controlled. The state’s Governor was also a Republican.5
Types of Common Ballot Measures Available:6 One
Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Organizations Include:
Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Multi-State Initiatives Include:7
Highlights from the state’s early childhood policy advocacy community include:8
The Mississippi legislature focused its 2024 early childhood efforts on the state’s early learning collaboratives, the state-funded pre-k program for four-year-olds. In the past, early learning collaboratives have struggled to find assistant teachers with associate degrees. HB 1669 expands qualifying credentials for assistant teachers to include candidates with high school diplomas in addition to another early childhood credential, such as a Child Development Associate certification (CDA), a Montessori certification, or an equivalent certification.
After the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) completed its periodic analysis of the Early Learning Collaborative program’s effectiveness, the need for more robust data systems and standards for evaluation quality became apparent. SB 2556, with its passage, adds language to the Early Learning Collaborative Act to enumerate the metrics that the PEER should use when evaluating the collaboratives in the future. The metrics are kindergarten readiness; english language arts proficiency in grades 3 through 8; math proficiency in grades 3 through 8; science proficiency in grades 5 and 8; disciplinary incidents; chronic absenteeism; on-time graduation rate; college enrollment; grade retention; and special education services and exit outcomes.
The legislature increased funding for the early learning collaborative program from $24 million to $29 million. This will increase the per-pupil funding rate from $2,500 to $3,500 to help early learning collaboratives maintain high-quality offerings. The general fund will cover $7,789,474 of this appropriation, and the remaining $21,210,526 are lottery funds. The legislature again supported pre-k teachers by committing $3.25 million for pre-k coaches. This will help the Mississippi Department of Education continue to provide high-quality professional experiences to pre-k teachers in collaboratives without dependence on philanthropy.
Our lead ally in Mississippi, Mississippi First, works to champion transformative policy solutions ensuring educational excellence for every child. The organization is the lead advocate for the Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013, Mississippi’s state-funded pre-k law. They conduct research, and support advocacy and implementation efforts for the state pre-k program, including supporting the Mississippi Department of Education-funded pre-k programs and applicant communities. The organization is currently expanding its advocacy efforts to the 0-5 space in the state.
Mississippi First is working to advance early childhood policies in several areas that align with the Alliance’s birth-through-eight policy framework:
Preschool and Pre-K
Child Care
Child Care Workforce
Early Childhood Governance
Mississippi just celebrated the ten-year anniversary of its launch of a collaborative pre-k program, a mixed-delivery model that allows families in communities to choose the setting and style that works for them. The 2013 debut allocated $3 million for 11 early learning collaboratives. By 2023, $24 million is enabling Mississippi to support 35.
NOTES:
1 Kids Count Data Center, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, January, 2024.
2 National Center for Children in Poverty, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, March 2023, NCCP analysis of ACS 1-Year Estimates – Public Use Microdata Sample 2021.
3 National Association of State Budget Officers, Proposed and Enacted Budgets, FY 2025.
4 Urban Institute, State Fiscal Briefs, June 2024.
5 National Conference of State Legislatures, 2024 State & Legislative Partisan Composition, April 29, 2024.
6 Ballotpedia, Ballot Measures by State, Kids Count Data Center, retrieved July, 2024.
7 Alliance for Early Success, Multi-State Initiatives for Early Childhood Policy Advocacy, July, 2024.
8 Alliance for Early Success, State-Wide Advocacy Highlights Survey, April-October, 2024; and 2024 Prenatal-to-3 Legislative Highlights, Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, July, 2024.
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© 2024 Alliance for Early Success
The Alliance for Early Success does not endorse or advocate for specific legislation or candidates.
