|
| | We Can Do BetterWe have written so often about the importance of Pre-K over the years, and we’ve even thrown in some crucial developments in the past year; the city council and county commission passed a joint Pre-K For All ordinance last year, and both legislative bodies even chipped in some extra funds to begin expanding seats beyond the prior income limits. None of this seemed possible in 2018 before we worked with our elected officials and the community to enact a much-needed local Pre-K program that is now administered by First 8 Memphis.
Every year, we still need to fight to maintain and expand local resources, try our best to connect federal and state programs, and continuously improve programs. This year we are still working to maintain the current administrative structure and funding between City and County, as reported recently by the Daily Memphian.
This got us thinking: Pre-K will undoubtedly look different (and likely more administratively cumbersome) for families, operators, and support staff next year. But, out of the negotiations, perhaps something new and better can be built. This saga has shined a light on the existing challenges funding Pre-K in our city and county, but Pre-K is just one of many parts of the broad array of necessary early childhood interventions that should make up a coherent system. Maybe this is our opportunity to refocus our effort on linking the pieces together. This is our chance to create the Cadillac of early childhood systems. |
|
|
| Parts of the WholeAn early childhood system that works for all families starts before birth, closely follows children through their first five years, and coordinates support for children through age eight, well into K-12 education. While we have some effective components and an incredible system organization First 8 Memphis, we do not yet have a scaled, sustainable well-oiled machine in Shelby County. This is a problem. If I wanted to sell you a vehicle, say, a Cadillac, that had a beautiful leather interior, but missing its wheels, you probably wouldn’t buy it. The car would not reliably get you to your destination. Our local early childhood system is like this Cadillac–some good parts and some parts still need to be installed. |
|
| Systems That Show the Way: American and International ModelsAcross the United States and around the world, governments have demonstrated that it is possible to build comprehensive early childhood systems—ones that align maternal health, early learning, family supports, and K–12 transitions into a coherent whole. These models show what Shelby County could build with intentional coordination and sustained investment. American Examples1. New York State: The First 1,000 Days Initiative
New York’s First 1,000 Days framework recognizes that the period from pregnancy through age two is foundational to lifelong health and learning. Rather than focusing narrowly on child care or education, the initiative coordinates maternal health, mental health, home visiting, nutrition, and early development supports across agencies.
By centering families during pregnancy and infancy—and aligning health and early learning systems—New York has reduced fragmentation and improved outcomes for both parents and children. The initiative demonstrates how prenatal and infant investments can be embedded into a broader early childhood system instead of treated as add-ons.
2. California: First 5 California
Created by voter initiative, First 5 California provides a durable governance and funding model for early childhood systems-building. Funded through a dedicated revenue stream, First 5 invests in prenatal health, early development, family support, and school readiness for children from birth to age five.
Equally important, First 5 operates through county-level commissions, allowing local communities to coordinate services while adhering to shared statewide goals. This structure balances local flexibility with system-wide accountability—protecting early childhood investments from annual political uncertainty.
3. Washington, DC: Building Toward a Universal Early Care SystemWashington, DC has taken significant steps to expand access to affordable, high-quality childcare and early learning, particularly through investments in childcare subsidies, workforce compensation, and universal Pre-K.
DC’s approach increasingly recognizes childcare as essential economic infrastructure—supporting children’s development while enabling parents to participate in the workforce. Recent efforts to stabilize providers, improve educator pay, and expand capacity reflect a growing commitment to treating early care and education as a coordinated public system rather than a private market failure.
International Examples1. Quebec, Canada — A Provincial Early Childhood EcosystemQuebec has built one of the most comprehensive early childhood systems in North America. Its model integrates:
Universal, low-cost childcare Strong parental leave policies Maternal and child health services Alignment between early care and formal schooling
By treating early childhood as a public good and embedding services into a single ecosystem, Quebec has improved maternal employment, child development outcomes, and long-term educational attainment.
2. Finland — Integrated Services from Birth to SchoolFinland’s globally admired education system begins long before kindergarten. Universal maternity and child health clinics track development from birth, connect families to services, and coordinate closely with early childhood education providers.
Early learning is publicly funded, educator preparation is rigorous, and transitions into the K–12 system are seamless. Education, health, and family support are viewed as interconnected responsibilities rather than separate policy domains.
3. New Zealand — A “No Wrong Door” Early Childhood Approach
New Zealand aligns early childhood education, health care, and family services under shared policy principles. Families can access multiple supports—health screenings, early learning, parenting resources—through coordinated community-based systems.
This “no wrong door” model reduces administrative burden on families while ensuring children’s developmental needs are identified early and addressed consistently.
What These Systems Teach UsAcross these models, the lessons are remarkably consistent:
Start before birth and stay engaged through early elementary years Coordinate health, education, and family supports under shared governance Invest in workforce quality and stability Protect funding from annual political volatility Use shared data to track progress from prenatal health to early literacy
Shelby County does not need to invent a new blueprint. The evidence is clear, the models exist, and the returns—social, educational, and economic—are well documented. What remains is the will to assemble the pieces into a system worthy of our children. |
|
| Let’s start with the good: What high-quality components does our early childhood system currently have?
Evidence-based home visiting programs support healthy births and infant growth and development for the first few years of life. Coordinated locally by the Early Success Coalition, providers such as LeBonheur and Porter Leath offer home visits, by nurses or other professionals, to expectant mothers, infants, and toddlers. These supports, funded primarily through the federal government’s Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program, flow through the state, and into Shelby County. Such programs have been extensively researched and have demonstrated positive results across a number of domains, including child health, maternal health, child development and school readiness, and positive parenting practices.
After the earliest months and years of life, families begin to seek childcare. The best childcare options provide safe places for children to grow and develop–physically, cognitively, and emotionally–and facilitate parents’ ability to work in decent-paying jobs or pursue workforce or postsecondary degrees or credentials. Porter Leath plays a key role locally. Porter Leath directly runs Early Head Start programs, which provides care for children under three. Porter Leath also runs NextMemphis–a business, classroom, and parent support program that enhances the quality of over 30 private childcare centers in the region. Finally, the state of Tennessee offers childcare assistance to families earning less than 85% of the state’s median income–this is about $3900/month, or $46,800/year for a family of four.
The next step along the development continuum is Pre-K. Here, the public sector–federal, state, and local–all provide important investment. Tennessee’s Voluntary Pre-K program (VPK) has been granting state funds to local school districts to serve income-eligible families with Pre-K since 2005. Memphis Shelby County Schools receive funding for VPK 97 classrooms, and the municipal school districts run a handful of other classrooms. In total, VPK has the capacity to serve over 2,000 children in Shelby County. The federal government joins Pre-K funding, by contributing over $30 million for Head Start (this serves 3 and 4-year olds, not to be confused with Early Head Start). Porter Leath manages Head Start funds, which provide well over 2,500 pre-K seats, again, to income eligible families. Finally, the City of Memphis and Shelby County have invested in Pre-K since 2019, and local funds have been managed by First 8 Memphis. Their investment, a $20M combined commitment in FY26 budgets, rounds out public funds going to Pre-K - for the first time in almost 10 years, all these funds are working together as one system. We should keep it that way, and celebrate the progress we have made.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| All of these pieces should add up to a well-oiled machine that helps move kids from birth into the K-12 education system. For some children and families, this is exactly how it works. But, far from all have this experience. So, how do we assemble these pieces into the reliable Cadillac of early childhood systems?
First, while evidence-based home visiting programs demonstrate effectiveness, their impact is limited. In Shelby County, fewer than 1000 families are served by these programs each year–not for lack of demand, but lack of funds. The reality is that programs that involve nurses and other trained professionals visiting homes over the course of months to years are high-touch and high-cost. Complementary models do, however, exist. Programs offering a light-touch–one to three home visits over the first few weeks of life–such as Family Connects solves this cost problem. Currently, 19 states implement Family Connects, which can serve far more patients than traditional, more intensive programs. That’s not to say that intensive programs are not important–they are. But, a light touch model can serve many families and deliver modest improvements; such a program can also refer families who need a more intensive or longer-term level of engagement to traditional programs. In Shelby County, introducing Family Connects, alongside the current programs, would drive additional impact to thousands of families while maintaining the deep impact of high-touch home visiting.
Second, while high quality childcare exists in Shelby County, these options are limited and income-restricted. In terms of quality, programs such as Early Head Start, delivered by trusted organizations (Porter Leath has been serving the region for 175 years) and overseen by federal standards that ensure a basic level of quality, are the best bet for families seeking public options. Next Memphis also supports quality by proactively delivering training and business supports to childcare centers. Tennessee attempts to provide parents additional insight into quality, though that is an entirely separate discussion.
For families who do not obtain a space in public childcare, options on the private marketplace are often cost prohibitive. In Shelby County, center-based care for an infant is, on average, $13,126/year and $12,063 for a toddler. Returning to our voucher threshold, a family of four earning $50,000/year would need to pay nearly a quarter of their income on childcare in Shelby County. Most families find this kind of cost impossible. Common sense solutions here include expanding income thresholds to keep up with costs, while maintaining and increasing quality standards for providers to receive voucher payments. The state should also explore cost reducing options, such as investing in childcare workforce programs to increase supply of scarce instructors. Workforce housing and tuition/student-loan assistance incentives for childcare professionals are local policy solutions to attract childcare professionals to our region and defray their costs of living. Finally, further investments in shared service programs, such as Porter Leath’s Next Memphis would put downward pressure on childcare costs and raise quality across the board.
Finally, while the City of Memphis and Shelby County have made encouraging progress on delivering high-quality Pre-K in recent years, we need to solidify this commitment locally, and continue towards the north star of universal, high quality public Pre-K access–Pre-K For All. Right now, local Pre-K funds sit in a precarious position. Each year, the City Council, County Commission, City Mayor, and County Mayor all have a part to play in ensuring Pre-K funds get to the classrooms and children who need them. This has worked reasonably well, until this year. We must find ways to secure this funding and expand it to include state and federal investments, while coordinating them as effectively as possible to help families navigate this critical journey 0-8. Our elected leaders would do well to understand that integrating all of these services, as well as pairing them with a longitudinal shared database that assists with wraparound supports and educational transitions, is the best way to serve our children and community. If we can put all of these pieces together, we’ll have a top-of-the-line Cadillac on our hands. Kids from Shelby County will cruise from birth into the K-12 system prepared academically, socially, and emotionally. |
|
| | | |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
