State board expands early childhood coaching and literacy support

Eight new early-childhood coaches and eight adolescent literacy coaches moved forward in Mississippi on Thursday, a change that could reach Cleveland County districts if they qualify for state grant funding. The Mississippi State Board of Education approved the staffing and grant-backed moves at its monthly meeting in Jackson, where the board meets at 10 a.m. on the third Thursday of each month in the Central High School building at 359 N. West St., with sessions open to the public and livestreamed.

The largest early-childhood piece expands the Early Childhood Learning Collaborative with support from the state’s Office of Early Childhood Education. The office helps early learning providers and families improve readiness and reading achievement starting in preschool. The grant materials allow awards to cover salary, fringe benefits and indirect costs up to 5 percent, with future payments tied to annual appropriations and performance in the prior year. The coaches model lesson plans, train teachers and build family engagement strategies.

Earlier this year, the department said a broader early-learning expansion would fund 33 coaches for 40 collaboratives and 33 state-invested pre-K programs, about 494 classrooms statewide.

The board also approved a separate adolescent literacy grant worth $4,374,963.42 to launch an initiative tied to SB 2294 and focused on grades 4 through 8. The grant runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2031, and the associated job posting set a tentative start date of Aug. 3, 2026 with a base salary of $65,000. Applicants must secure a local school district as fiscal agent, and the program is designed to push reading instruction toward grade level by the end of eighth grade.

The board also approved awards to 63 school districts under a $1.98 million School Resource Officer program, which can help cover salary and benefits because Mississippi Code Annotated § 37-3-82 sets a minimum of $10,000 per officer. Along with a new template for bringing retired teachers back into classrooms while keeping state retirement benefits and $50,000 for training new school board members, the board approved $50,000 for training new school board members.