Memphis will unveil pre-K funding

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland will propose a plan Saturday in a step toward fully funding countywide needs-based prekindergarten for the first time in county history.

Strickland, alongside Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell and Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dorsey Hopson, will unveil the plan at 9:30 a.m. in City Hall, according to a media notice Friday afternoon. The plan could help save 1,000 pre-K classroom seats that will be endangered when a $7.9 federal preschool grant ends in May 2019.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am to have a plan before us that can make this happen,” Strickland said in his weekly email to constituents Friday.

The City Council voted 12-0 in December to commit to finding the funding to save the 1,000 pre-K seat. The county has 7,420 pre-K seats currently but is aiming for 8,500.

Although he didn’t reveal details about the plan Friday, Luttrell said he’ll propose a budget with funding for pre-K on top of the $3 million the County Commission has approved in each of the past three years.

“It’s fair to say we both are committed to pre-K funding,” Luttrell said.

School board member Kevin Woods highlighted the significance of the city’s commitment to finding funding, whether from city coffers or from philanthropic sources. The city has no obligation to finance the school system directly now that Memphis City Schools has merged with Shelby County Schools, although city residents continue funding schools via county and state taxes.

“I see this as a sound investment that will provide great returns for the citizens of Memphis,” Woods said of an investment in pre-K.

But pre-K by itself is not enough to make sure gains made before kindergarten are not lost in subsequent years, he added.

“I think what that leads SCS to have to do is obviously to have to make sure that we’re supporting our teachers and our school leaders in not just pre-K, but in all of early education to make sure that the gains we see in pre-K can be sustained,” Woods said.

Going back to his 2015 campaign, Strickland has lamented the lack of third-graders in the county who can read at a third-grade level. He recently announced literacy programs through community centers and summer camps and has extended library hours.

“There is no more crucial moral calling of our time in our city than positively affecting our young people,” he said in the email. “Only 20 percent of our third-graders can read at a third-grade level. Drastically improving that number over time can be a game-changer when it comes to positively affecting all of our challenges.”

Ryan Poe and Jennifer Pignolet