Several new candidates have entered Mississippi’s 2026 U.S. Senate race in recent weeks.

The general election is more than 13 months away, but the deadline to file paperwork to run for federal offices is Dec. 26, according to the secretary of state’s office. 

Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith is running for a second full term in office. She is favored to defend her seat from Democrats, who haven’t elected a U.S. senator in Mississippi since John Stennis in 1982. 

Facing a Senate map that many analysts say favors Republicans, Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said he’s looking for ways to break the GOP’s ironclad grip on Mississippi in 2026. 

Democrats have long believed the U.S. Senate was designed to over-represent small states, leading to a structural advantage for Republicans. That and President Donald Trump’s return to power have sparked renewed discussion in Democratic politics about how the party can become competitive in Republican-led states. 

This could prompt the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the National Republican Senate Committee to spend millions on the race in the Magnolia State. At the end of June, Hyde-Smith’s campaign committee had just over $1.4 million in cash on hand. 

Hyde-Smith has also attracted two Republican primary challengers, neither of whom has held elected office. 

Party primaries are March 10, and the general election is Nov. 3, 2026. Here is an updated look at the field and the candidates’ backgrounds. 

Republican Primary

Cindy Hyde-Smith  — The Brookhaven native is the first woman elected to represent Mississippi in Congress. She served in the Mississippi Senate and as state agriculture commissioner before moving to the statewide post. In early 2018, then-Gov. Phil Bryant appointed her to the U.S. Senate to replace Republican Thad Cochran, who opted to retire. She won a special election later in 2018 to serve the remaining two years on the term Cochran started, and she won a full, six-year term in 2020. 

Hyde-Smith is “100% MAGA”, according to Trump, who has already endorsed her. She launched her reelection campaign in late August by highlighting her advocacy for Mississippi farmers, her fight to restrict abortion rights and her close ties to the White House

“I can send a text to President Trump, and he responds,” Hyde-Smith said at her campaign launch. 

In 2018 and 2020, Hyde-Smith defeated Democrat Mike Espy, an attorney and former congressman who served as U.S. secretary of agriculture during President Bill Clinton’s administration. 

Sarah Adlakha  — A physician from Ocean Springs, Adlakha said in her campaign announcement that she was running to “stand with President Trump to secure our border, stop reckless spending, and fight for Mississippi families.” Adlakha also told Mississippi Today she would work across the aisle to improve access to health care in Mississippi. 

“I feel like not enough is being done from our representatives. I think we need people who are more effective and ready to actually go in there and work and legislate,” Adlakha said. “It’s not so much that I disagree with (Hyde-Smith’s) policies. I just feel like she could be doing so much more in the Senate to help our state.” 

In one of her first public events last week, Adlakha called a press conference to urge Trump to send National Guard troops to Jackson, as he did in Washington and Memphis. Standing before a podium emblazoned with a “MAKE JACKSON SAFE AGAIN” sign, Adlakha said such a move would combat violent crime. 

Andrew Scott Smith  —  The Florence resident owns a pork rinds business and calls himself the “Pigskin Politician.” He announced his bid for the U.S. Senate just hours before Hyde-Smith’s campaign launch event. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson in 2024.

Smith said he was challenging Hyde-Smith because she has become disconnected from her constituents. Smith said he considers himself a monopoly-busting conservative in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt, and he hopes to address consolidation in the American economy through index funds. He also wants to focus on the “fiscal future” of the country by phasing out Social Security and federalizing the national debt.

Democratic Primary

Scott Colom  — A native of Columbus, Colom is the elected district attorney of the 16th Circuit Court District in north Mississippi. He is the first Black person elected as the top prosecutor for the district. Then-President Joe Biden in 2023 nominated Colom to a vacant federal judicial seat in northern Mississippi, but Hyde-Smith thwarted the nomination. 

In an interview with Mississippi Today, Colom said Hyde-Smith’s voting record shows she has prioritized “D.C. politics” instead of hard-working Mississippians, including her vote for Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” that slashed social safety net programs and provided tax cuts for the wealthy. 

If elected, Colom said he would push for legislation that raises the nation’s minimum wage and exempts law enforcement officers and public school teachers from paying federal income taxes. 

Mississippi Today reached out to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the National Republican Senate Committee for comment on the race. 

Colom is “handpicked by Chuck Schumer and George Soros to push Democrats’ radical agenda on Mississippians,” said NRSC regional press secretary Samantha Cantrell.

The Democratic committee did not respond to a request for comment.  

Priscilla Williams-Till  — The civil rights activist and relative of Emmett Till said on her campaign website that she’s running to enact laws that “will address historical and ongoing inequalities, while representing marginalized communities that work towards an equitable society.”  

“Even the election of former President Barack Obama, immigration controversy, and economic situation, it has become nearly impossible to keep track of hate organizations and the shocking rise in brutal attacks directed against individuals because they are Black, Latino, Asian, Disabled, Gay, or Women,” said Williams-Till, who grew up in Jackson.

Independent 

Ty Pinkins  — The unsuccessful Democratic candidate for secretary of state in 2023 and U.S. senator in 2024 has declared he’s also running for the Senate again in 2026 as an independent. Pinkins will be on the general election ballot without going through a primary.

Pinkins, a lawyer who lives in Vicksburg, announced his departure from the Democratic Party in June and attributed a lack of support from the state Democratic Party as part of the reason for his poor performance in past elections. Pinkins wrote that certain party leaders were “gatekeepers” who attempted to block him from advancing in politics. 

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Mississippi Today reporters Michael Goldberg and Taylor Vance recount their recent trip to Washington, D.C., and meetings with the state’s congressional delegation, covering topics including the use of National Guard troops in U.S. cities — potentially even in Jackson — disaster relief policies and the debate over the release of the Epstein files.

There is a chance that a rare case — not a pandemic but a single occurrence of bipartisanship on a health care issue — could break out in the U.S. Congress before the end of the year.

Such cases are few and far between, but national press reports indicate that the Republican-controlled Congress, fearing the backlash in the 2026 midterm elections, is pondering extending the program that provides enhanced federal financial assistance to people purchasing health insurance policies through the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

If the enhanced subsidies expire at the end of 2025 as scheduled, it would create a substantial increase in cost for the millions of Americans who get their health insurance coverage through the marketplace exchange — a key component of former President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

During the administration of former President Joe Biden, Democrats increased the federal subsidies provided to help people pay for the ACA exchange policies. No Republican voted for the enhanced federal subsidies just as they did not vote for the ACA in 2010.

But now fearing a backlash in the 2026 midterm elections, some are reportedly trying to find a way to extend the enhanced subsidies for at least another year. 

If the federal financial assistance for the cost of the marketplace policies expires, Mississippi will be hit particularly hard.

Unless Congress acts before the end of the year, the price of the marketplace’s health insurance policies will increase an estimated $480 annually in Mississippi, according to KFF, a national group that conducts health care research. The subsidies are provided based on income levels, so the costs for some could be much higher next year if the enhanced assistance expires at the end of 2025.

Participation in the marketplace by Mississippians has increased 242% in recent years since the enhanced federal assistance program was enacted, according to KFF. Only Texas has seen a greater increase at 255%.

Many of the Republicans who expect tough elections in 2026 now want to extend the program.

Republican Roger Wicker of Tupelo, Mississippi’s senior U.S. senator, is not up for reelection in 2026, but he has at times worked with Democrats on bipartisan health bills.

In 1997, Wicker, then a new member of the U.S. House, was part of a bipartisan alliance that passed the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which helped children of the working poor obtain health insurance.

The program has been pivotal in Mississippi, a state with one of the nation’s highest poverty rates and a large segment of its population working in low paying jobs. About 85,000 Mississippi children are enrolled in CHIP, according to Medicaid.gov.

The creation of CHIP occurred against big political odds. Before it was proposed, then-President Bill Clinton tried to pass his version of universal health care with First Lady Hillary Clinton leading that effort. The bill, which was derisively called Hillarycare, was savaged. The bill crashed and burned and created considerable ill will in Washington.

But in the wake of that failure, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Sens. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah, passed CHIP. Hillary Clinton, history should note, is also credited with playing a role in the passage of CHIP.

Wicker was part of that bipartisan effort. Wicker, who had been a member of the state Senate only three years earlier where he chaired the Public Health Committee, viewed CHIP as a proposal that would help Mississippi families.

Trent Lott of Mississippi, who at the time was the Senate majority leader, opposed CHIP, calling it “a big government program.” Thad Cochran, the state’s senior U.S. senator, like Wicker, supported the program.

And Cochran, a key member of the Senate Appropriations Committee for years, played pivotal roles in ensuring CHIP continued in future years when it appeared it might be in jeopardy.

In 2025, it will be interesting to see if Wicker or any other member of Mississippi’s congressional delegation is instrumental in ensuring the enhanced subsidies continue for the ACA exchange.

After all, all four U.S. House members and Cindy Hyde-Smith, the state’s junior U.S. senator, will be up for reelection in 2026. 

The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board has selected a search firm to assist with Jackson State University’s president search from the 11 proposals submitted. The position has been vacant since May when Marcus Thompson resigned as president less than two years into his tenure.

The state’s governing body that oversees Mississippi’s eight public universities voted in open session Thursday at its annual retreat to select Association of Governing Board of Universities and Colleges Search, an executive headhunting firm based in Washington, to assist with naming the historically Black university’s next leader. 

The move is a departure from the IHL board’s usual pick, Academic Search, an executive firm it has used twice for past university president searches. 

In 2023, the board hired Academic Search for $115,000 after Thomas Hudson, Thompson’s predecessor, resigned. The board also paid the firm $85,000 for the Delta State University search, which resulted in Dan Ennis. 

The firm presented a proposal that “best matched the qualifications outlined in the formal request for proposals,” a press statement from the board said. Trustees said they will iron out a formal contract with the firm in the next few days. 

In August, the board announced to the public it began its official search process three months after Thompson’s resignation. For months, alumni and supporters of the university have raised questions and called for a fair, transparent national leadership search for the university. 

The board did not announce additional details regarding the JSU president search. 

Correction 9/19/25: This story has been updated to correct that the vote on the search firm was in open session.

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.

I was born and raised in Meridian, Mississippi just four minutes from the Walgreens where I now work as a pharmacist. Some might say my roots in this community run deep.

My family owned a group of independent pharmacies in the area for years, and when they were ready to exit the profession, Walgreens gave me the opportunity to continue doing what I’ve always known: caring for my community through pharmacy.

Today, I serve as a district immunization lead, which means I often lead local vaccine clinics and outreach efforts across the region. It’s a role that allows me to expand my impact beyond the pharmacy counter and bring care directly to the communities that need it most.

A big reason I’m so passionate about preventive care is because I’ve seen firsthand how vaccines can make a difference and how the absence of one can lead to regret.

I recently counseled two patients who are twins about the importance of getting the shingles vaccine. One accepted my recommendation and got vaccinated. The other declined. About a month later, the patient who didn’t get the vaccine came into the pharmacy with shingles.

The patient immediately expressed regret and wished they had gotten the shot. I walked them through when they’d be eligible to receive it, and they’re now planning to get vaccinated. That experience reminded me why I chose this profession — to help people make informed decisions that protect their health. 

Mississippi has long struggled with low vaccination rates, and this year, I’m especially concerned.

Misinformation is making it harder for people to trust the principles of how vaccines protect us. I hear it every day: “I’ve never had the flu, so I don’t need the shot.”

But the truth is, flu vaccines aren’t just about individual protection. They’re about keeping our hospitals from being overwhelmed, reducing treatment costs and protecting our most vulnerable neighbors, including children, seniors and those with chronic conditions.

At my store on the east side of Mississippi, we take care of a lot of patients who need vaccines. I’ve worked hard to build trust with my patients, and they rely on me to make sure they’re getting the right care.

That trust is something I don’t take lightly. We host onsite vaccine clinics and do everything we can to raise awareness about the importance of getting vaccinated – especially in more rural areas where hesitancy is higher.

The misconceptions around flu vaccines aren’t new, but they’ve been amplified in recent years. That’s why it’s more important than ever to have honest conversations with your pharmacist – someone who knows your health history, your concerns and your community.

Getting a flu shot is quick, easy and one of the most effective ways to protect yourself and those around you.

I trust vaccines. I’ve seen firsthand how they help prevent disease and reduce hospitalizations.

And I’ll continue doing everything I can to make sure my neighbors in Mississippi have access to the care they need — starting with a simple flu shot.

Chris Waldron is a pharmacy manager and district immunization lead at Walgreens in Meridian. With a lifelong connection to the community and a background rooted in local pharmacy, Waldron  now leads vaccine clinics and outreach efforts across the region. He’s especially passionate about preventive care and helping patients make informed decisions about their health.

In the latest twist in Jackson State University’s quest to insulate itself from the city’s water woes, testimony before U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate revealed that a years-in-the-works, nearly complete plan to install backup water tanks on campus could put students at risk of consuming water not intended for drinking. 

But the historically Black university, which has not been involved in the city’s ongoing lawsuit until now, was not forced to court over the issue. Instead, the university was the one that filed a grievance. It sought Wingate out for help with what it described as an insurmountable roadblock: Ted Henifin, the federal water receiver, who was refusing to permit the project to move forward. 

“It has an enrollment effect on us, a morale effect on us, and most important, an operational effect on us,” Vance Siggers, the director of campus operations, told Wingate, adding that each time the university experiences days without water, it loses “somewhere between 50 and 100 students just on the basis of we don’t have water on campus.” 

The two sides mostly talked past each other during the Thursday proceedings, with Jackson State contending that it was not attempting to build its own water system for human consumption. The university has been working on this project since the 2022 water crisis disrupted the fall semester for weeks. 

Henifin, backed by testimony from the Mississippi State Department of Health, responded that the university’s plan for the backup tanks did not follow safety regulations. That’s in part because, during emergencies, health officials said the plan would route nonpotable water through the same pipes the university normally uses to deliver potable water to the kitchen and dormitories. 

“Looking back, it would have been great to work with them from the very beginning,” Henifin said. “At the end of the day, Jackson State hired an engineering firm and they should have reached out to the health department. … It’s engineering malpractice that they got this far along.” 

Wingate began the proceedings by reading aloud a Sept. 11 letter he received from the university’s lobbyist. The letter described how Jackson State has a looming deadline to spend $8 million in pandemic relief funds administered by the Department of Finance and Administration to install four water tanks on its campus as part of a plan designed by a local contractor, the Pickering Firm. 

Those tanks, which can’t be returned, are currently sitting unused on state property because Henifin will not sign a document that the Mississippi State Department of Health needs in order to formally review Jackson State’s plans. 

Instead, the letter portrayed Henifin as pulling strings with the health department to block the project. JSU claimed Henifin had wrongly surmised that the university was attempting to build its own water system. 

“Our goal is not to create a new water system but to ensure access to backup water tanks to prevent our students from experiencing water shortages,” Jacqueline Anderson-Woods wrote to Wingate, hoping the plea would lead the judge to force JXN Water’s approval

Over the next three hours, Wingate attempted to unpack the disagreement, an effort that involved testimony from Henifin, Siggers and Bill Moody, the director of the health department’s public water supply division. 

The university argued it does not want to build an independent water system and will continue to draw from the city’s water system and pay its bills. 

“This is not an independent water system, this is a backup water system,” Siggers said. “We still have to cut those 18 payments a month that I will sign off on every month.” 

Siggers described what he envisioned: During periods when issues with the city’s water system resulted in low water pressure on campus, the university could trigger the backup water tanks to keep its cooling and heating systems going.

Students could use the backup water to flush toilets and shower so they did not have to leave their dorms to use portable toilets, such as during the 2022 water crisis. Dining hall staff could continue to use the water to keep the kitchen clean. 

“It is important that we keep a certain level of PSIs on campus for student use in residence halls such as flushing toilets, shower needs, and washing,” he said. “Over in the dining facility, it is used for back-up such as maintaining cleanliness in the dining facilities while we serve our students.” 

When the university reached out to Henifin after learning he was blocking the project, Siggers said they did not receive a response. Henifin even ignored a letter from Alfred Rankins, the commissioner of the university’s board, the Institutions of Higher Learning, in support of the project. 

In response to Siggers’ testimony, Henifin told Wingate he was “very confused” because as far as he knew, there was no way in the proposed design for the university to separate nonpotable water that goes to a shower from potable water that goes to a bathroom sink. 

“They don’t have a dual-pipe system where they can put nonpotable water into their system and only go to toilets for flushing,” Henifin told Wingate. “If it goes into a shower, people open their mouths when they shower.  Nonpotable water is not allowed to be used in showers in buildings.”

Henifin also noted that if Jackson State is storing unused water in these tanks for months, bacteria or other contaminants are likely to grow. That means if there is a possibility students could consume the water, the university must treat it — which requires obtaining the necessary regulations, hiring a water operator and conducting regular testing. 

“As the protector of Jackson’s water … I cannot sign off on anything that may cause people to have contaminated water,” he said. 

The first Henifin learned of the project was when the contractor reached out to ask about an “infrastructure tie-in,” he said.  He added that he thought improvements JXN Water had made to the city’s delivery system, including winterizing its facilities, meant Jackson State no longer needed to pursue this project. 

This testimony led Wingate to call on the Mississippi State Department of Health. Moody, the director of the department’s bureau of public water supply, told Wingate he had determined that regardless of university’s intent, it was seeking to build a system intended for “consumptive” use. 

Moody had informally reviewed the plans, which the university had not provided to him until he issued a cease-and-desist order on the project in May. 

“The plans that I’m looking at fully indicated the water would be flowing into the tanks and flowing back out into the building using their pipes,” Moody said. 

Moody added the university could solve this if it routed the water from the tanks solely to mechanical systems like HVAC, so that students do not risk consuming the nonpotable water. 

Another solution would be for the university to become a public water system, a legal designation for a system that delivers drinkable water to more than 25 people for at least 60 days out of the year. 

But Jackson State kept reiterating to Wingate that it did not want to become a public water system because it did not intend for students to drink its backup water, despite the testimony from the health department that its plans would result in students consuming nonpotable water. 

“This goal is to be achieved by installation of above ground tanks on the customer side of existing taps to distribute water to dining services, campus housing, the student health center,” said Monica Davis Allen, an attorney for the university. “The intention is to ensure continuous campus operation and not for human consumption.” 

At the end of the proceedings, Wingate asked Jackson State to submit a brief to the court within five days as to whether it was building a public water system.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Trent Kelly, a retired Mississippi National Guard officer, is supporting President Donald Trump’s efforts to mobilize National Guard troops to Washington and other cities around the country to crack down on crime. 

Kelly, a Republican who has represented northeast Mississippi in Congress since 2015, said about 200 members of the Mississippi National Guard are still in the nation’s capital, and he believes the troops have sufficient training to aid law enforcement officers in the city. 

“It’s part of our civil response,” Kelly said of the Guard. “We know how to do that mission. They’re not law enforcement. They know what they can and can’t do. They’re supporting law enforcement.” 

The president has threatened to send troops to other cities he believes have problems with violent crime. Opponents of this policy say the use of federal troops for domestic law enforcement violates federal law and usurps individual states’ sovereignty.

Kelly, a Saltillo resident, first joined the National Guard at the age of 19 in 1985. He mobilized for Operation Desert Storm in 1990 and deployed to Iraq in 2005 and 2009. 

In 2018, Kelly was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. In 2020, he was promoted to major general and designated as the state’s assistant adjutant general. Earlier this year, he retired from the Guard. During his tenure in the Guard, he was one of the highest-ranking members of the military serving in Congress.

He told Mississippi Today in an interview at his Capitol office that he has met with about 15 members of the Mississippi unit in Washington, and all of them said they were enjoying their assignment. 

“They were on their off time,” Kelly said. “They came by, and we gave them a Capitol tour. It was informal.” 

Following the governors of at least three other Republican-led states, Gov. Tate Reeves last month announced he was deploying Mississippi National Guard troops to Washington to bolster Trump’s “effort to return law and order to our nation’s capital.”

The move comes after Trump signed an executive order federalizing local police forces and activating about 800 District of Columbia National Guard members. Washington’s elected officials and several Democratic lawmakers have disputed these claims, noting that violent crime is lower than it was during Trump’s first term in office. 

After he mobilized the National Guard in Washington, Trump deployed troops to Memphis, with the support of Tennessee’s Republican governor and U.S. Senators. The president has also suggested sending troops to Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans.

State leaders have speculated whether Reeves or Trump would send Guard troops to deal with crime in Mississippi’s capital city. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a media briefing earlier this month, called Jackson a “Democrat-run city” in a conservative state and labelled it a “sanctuary city.”

“While Jackson is not formally a sanctuary city, the state of Mississippi formally banned sanctuary cities, and this city has acted as a de facto sanctuary city for criminals and illegal aliens since 2017,” Leavitt said. 

But Reeves’ office, in a social media post, said he has not deployed the Guard to Jackson because he has previously worked with the state Legislature to expand the role of the Capitol Police force in the area and has signed legislation into law creating the Capitol Complex Improvement District Court, a state-created inferior court in the state’s capital city.  

“The Governor’s holistic approach to fight crime in Jackson — admittedly using tools not available to the President — is working,” Reeves’ office said. 

U.S. Rep. Mike Ezell, a Republican who represents South Mississippi and a former sheriff, also said the president’s use of the Guard is a “good strategy” because the mere appearance of military members could be a deterrent for crime. 

“I’ll tell you from my own personal experience being a sheriff, being chief of police, if you have a crime problem, and think about what you hear from the police chiefs and the sheriffs,” Ezell said. “‘We don’t have enough manpower. We don’t have enough manpower.’ We hear that. We’ve heard that forever.”

However, not all members of the Mississippi delegation are in favor of the policy. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the lone Democrat from the Mississippi delegation who represents the Delta, said in an August news release that deploying the Guard was a “power grab” by Trump, “trying to crown himself king.”

“Washington, D.C., needed the National Guard deployed on Jan. 6th, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, but he did nothing,” Thompson said. “Now, Donald Trump has chosen to unleash federal power against a community that didn’t vote for him, proving once again that his priorities are political vengeance and self-promotion.”

While the congressional debate in Congress continues over the policy, the courts are also weighing in. 

A federal judge in California ruled earlier this month that the Trump administration broke the law by deploying National Guard troops in Los Angeles during the summer. The Trump administration is appealing the ruling.

PETAL — Preschoolers kneel on a kaleidoscope rug, their clumsy hands reaching for wooden blocks, little socked feet tucked underneath.

Block by block, they build a tower that only teeters a little, and for a moment, stands tall. The kids grin proudly. And when it tumbles to the ground a few seconds later, the classroom corner is filled with the sound of giggles.

A bystander might think this is just play. But the teacher watching nearby knows they’re learning essential fine-motor skills. They’re also learning social skills by sharing with their classmates. 

Thanks to a statewide investment in early education more than a decade ago, about one in six Mississippi children is learning these integral skills within the first few years of life at “early learning collaboratives” throughout the state. Experts agree the program is directly connected to the state’s reading gains that have garnered national attention. 

So when lawmakers created another state-funded pre-K program in 2022, some wondered: Why do we need both? One legislative leader who helped create the collaboratives is concerned the new program might siphon away resources, or recreate some of the problems the state faced for decades with early learning.

Early learning collaboratives, a state and taxpayer funded pre-K program established by the Legislature in 2013, created education partnerships in communities across Mississippi. The program has high academic standards, and it brings together child-care centers, nonprofit organizations, school districts and Head Start agencies. It compensates the groups for partnering.

In 2021, just 18 collaboratives were serving about 3,000 4-year-olds throughout the state, but the program still landed Mississippi top marks for early education from a national research group. 

Four years later, that count has more than doubled. Now, 40 collaboratives across Mississippi have more than 6,000 kids enrolled. 

But a new program, called the state-invested pre-K program, or SIP, doesn’t require collaboration with Head Start centers, which provide a myriad of services beyond education for some of the state’s neediest children. Additionally, because of the way the program is set up, there’s less red tape.

For those reasons, it may be a more appealing option for underfunded districts looking to make their dollars go further. It’s frustrating for Sen. Brice Wiggins, a Republican from Pascagoula, who championed the original program that required collaboration among pre-K partners, instead of fighting over students and the money that follows them.

“As I understand it, the SIP program has its roots in something that has always plagued early education in Mississippi,” he said. “Competition.”

‘Skin in the game’

There was an old saying among the police officers and prosecutors in Jackson County, Wiggins remembers from his time working in the district attorney’s office. 

“They said they determined the amount of prison beds by how well kids performed in the third and fourth grade,” he recalled, in his office at the state Capitol in June. “That resonated.”

When he was elected to the state Senate, those kids were fresh on his mind.

Wiggins spent 2012, his first year at the Capitol, advocating for early childhood education and began working up a plan to reshape the state’s system with policy researcher Rachel Canter. They partnered with then-Republican Rep. Toby Barker, who is now an independent and serves as mayor of Hattiesburg. By the time the next year rolled around — 2013, a seminal year for education in Mississippi — Wiggins thought he had something good. 

As lawmakers were working up what would become the literacy act that fundamentally changed reading education in Mississippi, leaders in the Legislature were signing off on Wiggins’ early education plan. It addressed the “patchwork of pre-kindergarten entities” in Mississippi and the lack of coordination between them. When students enroll in different pre-K programs, money follows — tuition at private day-care facilities or federal funding at Head Start are two examples. The collaboratives had a goal of eliminating the infighting that happens in communities over 4-year-olds by giving stakeholders a financial incentive to work together.

The bill passed by a vast bipartisan majority in 2013 and lawmakers appropriated $3 million for it. The Mississippi Department of Education selected 11 communities to host the first collaboratives.

In a collaborative, there’s a lead partner — usually the local school district, but it can be a nonprofit organization — that has local responsibility over the program. They’re in charge of disbursing funds, facilitating professional development and ensuring everyone is adhering to standards. 

Those standards are rigorous. The bill requires collaboratives to use a curriculum that aligns with benchmarks from the National Institute of Early Education Research. This includes having teachers with bachelor’s degrees and at least 15 hours of professional development a year.

The collaborative’s lead partner is required to work with other local pre-kindergarten providers such as child care and Head Start centers to be eligible for the collaborative and its funding, which was originally $2,150 per student (That amount has since increased to $5,000). But the costs quickly add up. The $3 million from the Legislature got them started The state agreed to pay half of each student’s education costs. The rest had to come from the communities. 

Enter the part that Wiggins is most proud of: To make up the other half, the Legislature created a tax-credit program. That means businesses and individuals can donate to their local collaborative and receive a dollar-for-dollar credit on their taxes. 

“That created some skin in the game,” he said. 

Setting students up for success

Deanna Hathorn holds open a book at the front of the classroom, and every face is turned toward her. 

“‘Justin dreamt that he could fly,’” she reads in a lilting voice. 

Then Hathorn directs her students: “Hold one finger up if you have dreams!”

Immediately, tiny index fingers fly into the air.

Petal, a suburb of Hattiesburg, was one of the first communities to opt into the early learning collaborative program. 

Prior to the program, it was relatively common for Petal students to enter kindergarten without any classroom education because options were limited to Head Start and a handful of Christian-based schools, similar to many other Mississippi towns, according Jana Perry. Perry is Petal’s former primary school assistant principal and the current director of the district’s Coleman Center for Children and Families, the lead partner for the Petal Early Learning Collaborative.

That’s because pre-kindergarten was not funded by the state before 2013. 

“The act was a game-changer,” she said. “If we didn’t have this, we would be so far behind. Why we are doing so well as a state is because of early childhood education.” 

Wiggins said Petal is one of the state’s most successful early learning collaboratives, in its reach and academic achievement. About 300 kids in Petal enter the district’s kindergarten program every year. Most will have gone through the collaborative, which currently has 179 students across 10 classrooms at five sites. 

The difference between the students who have had a year in the collaborative and the ones who haven’t is stark, Perry said.

Mississippi Department of Education data shows that collaborative students outperform their peers on the statewide kindergarten readiness assessment. That’s because the collaborative students enter kindergarten more familiar with classroom structure and the curriculum. Plus, some potential barriers to learning may have already been identified, Perry said. For example, collaborative teachers can intervene if a child has a speech impediment, potentially making a year’s worth of progress by the time that student enters kindergarten. 

“We can go ahead and get them set up to succeed once they walk in the door,” she said. “And they know how to do school. Kids who haven’t been through pre-K really struggle in their first year in kindergarten.”

The impact of early education echoes throughout a child’s life, said Steven Barnett, founder of the National Institute for Early Education Research. 

“The first thing you’ll notice is that the students do better when they get to kindergarten, and then they do better on those early grade exams,” Barnett said. “But the next thing you’ll notice is they’re less likely to fail and have to repeat. They’re less likely to need special education, and they’re going to be more likely to graduate from high school and go on to higher education. 

“That’s the big payoff, because that’s where you get better health outcomes, better employment, better incomes.”

Petal superintendent Matt Dillon said the first cohort of early learning collaborative students are now in high school, and the impact of the program is tangible — in test scores, expected graduation rates and school environment. 

“This is a community that really recognized the importance of early education,” he said. “And fast forward to today, we’re reaping the benefits.”

That success of early learning collaboratives is why, when Wiggins heard about the new state-funded pre-kindergarten program created in 2022, he was confused — and, honestly, a little agitated. 

“Nobody asked me about it,” Wiggins said. “And if they had, I would have said, ‘No.’”

New program may fit smaller communities

Union, a tiny town in piney central Mississippi anchored by a couple of four-way stops, is home to about 2,000 people. Most of the town’s 4-year-olds are in three classrooms at the Union Elementary School’s campus, thanks to funding from the new SIP program. 

On the whole, it’s not dissimilar from early learning collaborative classrooms in Petal. In rainbow-decorated rooms, children take care of baby dolls, listen to stories read aloud and match letters on worksheets.

But policy differences set the two programs apart.

The SIP program, which was funded in 2022, paid schools $100,000 for each early education classroom, and an extra $25,000 each if the school partnered with its local Head Start. However, that partnership is not required. This policy was slightly changed for the newest batch of participating schools — now, if they do not partner with the local Head Start, the district receives a fraction of that money.

Additionally, while the early learning collaboratives are enshrined in and regulated by state law, the SIP program is simply a line item in the annual education appropriation bill. That means its existence is subject to the whims of legislative approval each year.

The Mississippi Department of Education works hard to make sure all participating schools are in compliance — the SIP program meets all 10 of NIEER’s quality early education benchmarks, as does the collaborative program — but the agency doesn’t have to. 

Jill Dent, the agency’s early childhood director, said in an emailed statement that the department advocates equally for both programs. 

“Our goal is to support districts in choosing the model that best fits their local needs and capacity,” she wrote. 

It’s not unusual, Barnett said, for states to have more than one early education program. But it does beg the question: Who does the SIP program serve? 

“Sometimes, one program doesn’t fit everybody,” he said. “But sometimes, it’s just politics.” 

The politics didn’t matter to longtime Union Superintendent Tyler Hansford. He just didn’t see a collaborative working for his community. It’s small, doesn’t have many child care centers and the closest Head Start — which Union does work with — is a 30-minute drive. And he’s happy with the decision he’s made, already able to see the positive impact the program is having in Union.

“We’re able to reach more students and get them in early,” he said. “What we’ve seen is that there’s tremendous benefit in that.”

Hansford saw more bang for his buck with the SIP program, along with 32 other communities across Mississippi. Perry and Barnett said they both understand why those districts have made the decision to opt into the SIP program over the collaborative program.

Some districts might not want to partner with as many entities as the collaboratives require because they’re happy with the way they do things. Others, such as Union, might not have as many resources or options in their community to support a collaborative. 

But some places that are short on money have made the collaborative structure work, such as Tallahatchie County, a tiny community in the Delta with a median household income of $23,000. 

Tallahatchie hosts one of the state’s original early learning collaboratives. The lead partner, nonprofit Tallahatchie Early Learning Alliance, brings together local Head Starts and East Tallahatchie School District and has served more than 1,000 students since the local program began in 2014. 

There were no publicly funded pre-K classrooms prior to the collaborative and only a handful of child-care centers. Only two served low-income children and they had long waitlists, said Cheryl Swoopes, director of community engagement for SonEdna, which launched Tallahatchie Early Learning Alliance. 

“With limited resources, it’s a process, but we’ve stayed the course,” she said. “We’ve had teachers and administrators tell us that they wouldn’t know what to do if TELA wasn’t here.”

Today, the Tallahatchie collaborative is the only coordinated, fully funded pre-K effort in the county, and in Wiggins’ view, if Tallahatchie can do it, anyone can. 

“The ELC, it is work,” said Perry, from Petal. “There’s a lot of work. But it’s very worth it.”

Looking ahead

Despite stagnant state test scores this year, Mississippi continues to revel in the glow of its national academic achievements, particularly in literacy and early education.

Wiggins believes those achievements are in no small part due to the collaboratives. He hopes to see the program expand to include younger students and more communities in the next 10 years.

Access is still low, with enrollment rates of 17.7% of all Mississippi 4-year-olds. The SIP program reaches about 900 kids, or about 2.4% of 4-year-olds.  A recent report from Barnett’s organization noted that neighboring Alabama serves twice as many four-year-olds.

Neither of Mississippi’s pre-K programs serve 3-year-olds.

Since early learning collaboratives were established, funding has steadily increased. The original $3 million allotment is now up to $29 million, plus $3.25 million for the program’s coaches. 

The SIP program received $13 million in the most recent appropriations bill. 

“Our scores in kindergarten readiness continue to go up, and the nation understands what we’ve done,” Wiggins said. “But we’ve got to continue to do things. 

“We’ve got to reduce the friction in the early education world in Mississippi because it should be about the kids. We have something that works. We need to continue to support that.”