The Winona-Montgomery School District has been awarded $165,516 in grant funds from the Mississippi Department Education (MDE) to create a State Invested Pre-K (SIP) program.
The purpose of the grant is to provide funding to support a high-quality pre-K program for four-year-old children in Winona and Montgomery County. WMSD was one of 10 districts selected to create new SIP programs. SIP programs will meet all 10 National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) benchmarks: use of Early Learning Standards, curriculum support, teacher degree, teacher specialized training, assistant teacher degree, staff professional development, maximum class size, staff-child ratio, screenings and referrals, and a continuous quality improvement system.
WMSD will receive $55,172 annually for three years to partially fund the SIP program.
The pre-K program at WMSD will be implemented for the 2026-2027 school year. More details about the program will be forthcoming.
