
Office of Education
“We know that early childhood education is a critical piece of a child’s life. That’s why we’ve worked hard to find resources to preserve and expand pre-k seats. I can think of no better cause and use of our resources.”
– Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris
As the 2019–2020 school year approached, Shelby County, Tenn., was set to lose 1,000 pre-k seats in dozens of classrooms due to the expiration of a multi-year federal Preschool Development Grant.
Shelby County government was determined not only to sustain the existing pre-k seats, but to expand high-quality pre-k. The county, together with community advocates and their partners at the City of Memphis, set out to give every low-income four-year old in the county access to a quality early childhood education by 2025. As of the end of the first quarter there were 199 at risk students enrolled in publicly funded Pre-K classrooms throughout Shelby County. The overall average of daily attendance rate for those classes was 92% which means that 143 students had attended at least 90% of school days within the quarter.
Publicly Funded Classrooms
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Total |
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Max Amount | $750,000 | $750,000 | $750,000 | $3,710,000 | $2,040,000 | $8,000,000 |
Payment Release Date | 12/31/2019 | 03/31/2019 | 06/30/2020 | 09/30/2020 | 01/31/2021 | Payment to be Complete by 01/31/2021 |
Funds provided by Shelby County $1,500,000 |
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- Supports 21 classrooms. - $252,500 (17%) has been used during first quarter. |