Federal, state leaders working to expand Head Start opportunities in Mississippi

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Pick a classroom at the A.B. Devine, C.O. Chinn, W.E. Garrett Head Start/Early Head Start Center in Canton — any classroom — and you will find young children developing skills designed to help them excel educationally, and even socially.

Pupils in the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) room can be spotted painting pieces that will definitely be placed on a home refrigerator, while others explore puppetry and put their imaginations to work. In the computer lab, the children log onto a platform where they learn how to spell and solve math equations, among other functions, by way of creative games tailored to stimulate the mind and maximize attentiveness.

The children in these settings, according to Dr. Laurie Todd-Smith, an official within President Donald Trump’s administration, and Mississippi House Speaker Jason White, will be more prepared for kindergarten and the following grades than their peers who neither attended a Head Start center nor had the luxury of being brought up in an esteemed daycare setting.

PICTURE OF JASON WHITE READING TO THE KIDDOS

For those unfamiliar with Head Start, it is a federal program aimed at providing free child development and family support services for low-income children and families, from birth to age 5. Head Start was established in 1965 by former President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of his “War on Poverty” initiative. 60 years later, the program services 750,000 children nationwide, but may be having its greatest impact in Mississippi.

Todd-Smith, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development at the Administration for Children and Families, a branch of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, acknowledged such when she paid a visit to her home state on Wednesday. While speaking with a coalition of parents, healthcare leaders, and Head Start operatives, Todd-Smith attributed Head Start as a contributing factor to the “Mississippi Miracle,” relating to recent education gains the state has achieved.

But with the successes come challenges, especially in a state like Mississippi, where poverty rates are among the worst in the nation. During a roundtable discussion with the aforementioned leaders, Todd-Smith opened the floor to anyone who would be willing to expound upon the obstacles preventing Head Start centers from achieving further success and maximizing their reach in the state.

While the unanimous consensus among those who participated in the forum, several of whom attended a Head Start center as a child, was that the program has been a resounding bright light in Mississippi, a few major obstacles still exist in the pursuit to provide opportunities for Mississippi’s most vulnerable families. Among these roadblocks are funding concerns, credentialing regulations, re-verification processes, and a need for better collaboration between public and private partners.

“The bottom line for the struggles is the funding,” Agape Educational Center President Margaret Chapman asserted during the discussion.

Mississippi currently has just north of 200 Head Start centers, which serve more than 22,000 children. These facilities are primarily funded by the federal government through grants. Collectively, the Head Start centers in the state received a little over $251 million out of the more than $12 billion pie in fiscal year 2023. The funding, though large for a state with under 3 million residents, is insufficient to meet the growing needs of Head Start operatives in Mississippi.

Rev. Charles Bell, who chairs the Friends of Children of Mississippi board of directors, told Todd-Smith that teacher retention has been a struggle. Friends of Children of Mississippi is the state’s largest Head Start services provider and has 20 locations, reaching multiple counties. According to Bell, two specific factors have dwindled the pool of educators seeking a job at a Head Start facility: annual pay and the credentials required to teach.

To be a lead teacher at a Head Start center, one must possess a bachelor’s degree in child development or early childhood education. As for the salary that comes with the job, Bell insisted that better opportunities exist for educators looking to teach in public schools. Both of these factors limit the prospective candidate pool, though an educator shortage plagues the Head Start world like it does across

“Please promise that you will continue to fight for Head Start,” Bell pleaded to Todd-Smith.

 

“To come back in the role of leading Head Start and childcare feels a bit surreal, but also feels like I’m in the perfect point in time, and I really understand the needs of Head Start and childcare in Mississippi,” Todd-Smith told SuperTalk Mississippi News.

 

“In the state of Mississippi, I think we know what we’re doing

Friends of Children of Mississippi is the largest head start organization in the state.

“Fight for head start,” Charles Bell quote.

“QUOTE,” Todd Smith told SuperTalk Mississippi News. “.”

Mississippi Miracle largely attributed to head start initiatives

“You have a friend in the speaker’s office,” White said during the panel.

 

“Now is not the time to stop and take a breather. We want to see what that next step is,” White said. “By having a Mississippian sitting in the role that Dr. Laurie Todd-Smith does in the Trump administration, there is a very unique opportunity for us. We’re willing to think outside the box, and she knows that. With our recent gains, she’s willing to shine a light on Mississippi for us, and allow us maybe to do some things outside the norm in ways we’ve shown are good for Mississippi.”

“In this choice space, after we start talking about real choice for K-5 through 12th grade in our state, we still think that K-4 could be a part of that through our early learning collaboratives and Head Start,” White said. “We’re willing to put more resources there, but we want parents in the community to be able to choose the Head Start if that’s what they want, and we think the early learning collaboratives are part of that connection.”