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NATCHEZ — Natchez Adams School District families will have to pay a fee of $250 per month for their three- and four-year-old children to attend pre-school during the upcoming academic year.

That was not the case in the past school year, when 57 pre-kindergarten children attended Susie B. West Elementary School and Gilmer McLaurin Elementary programs free of charge.

School officials said during a Tuesday NASD Board of Trustees meeting that fees are being reintroduced in the district because the program is receiving only about $96,000 per year in grant funds from the State Board of Education’s State Invested Pre-K program, significantly less than the previous $200,000 a year received.

Meanwhile, the costs to run the program are rising to ensure its “modern sustainability without reducing classroom staffing or instructional support,” said Alice Morrison, director of academic services.

“Currently, our preschool program is funded primarily from state grant allocations and Title I funds,” Morrison said. “For us to sustain our program, we have to apply a monthly fee. This was something we did until about three years ago. We always had a monthly fee, but because we had gotten the grant, we eliminated it. Now there is a need to go back to the monthly fee.”

Even at $250 per month, Morrison said parents still utilize the Pre-k program because it is more affordable than most other childcare options, which on average cost around $500 per month. However, the district’s Pre-K program does not include after-school care.

The Board of Trustees approved the implementation of the $250 monthly fee unanimously during Tuesday’s meeting.

Head Start remains an option to low-income families in Adams County.

Since the SIP programs were first implemented in August 2023, NASD received over $200,000 to fully fund its pre-kindergarten program and parents bore no cost for their children to participate, Morrison said.

The state board of education announced this week that $24 million had been awarded to continue these programs and implement new programs for 10 additional districts, creating a total of 33 state-funded pre-K programs serving 2,120 students in 109 classrooms.

NASD is among 10 districts in the state that received a portion of its funding, or $96,552 each year for the next three years, based on points earned in its application process.

Another 10 districts were awarded $125,000 per pre-kindergarten classroom “because they are working in partnership with Head Start to provide additional services to children in the program,” MDE states.

While partnerships with local childcare centers or Head Start grantees are not required to receive the grants, applicants who establish these partnerships receive priority points during the evaluation process.

Districts that will create new state-funded programs are: Louisville School District, New Albany School District, Richton School District, Tate County School District, Western Line School District, Covington County School District, Forest Municipal School District, Meridian Public School District, Perry County School District and Winona-Montgomery School District.

NASD is among the districts that renewed their SIP programs. Others are: Smith County School District, Newton Municipal School District, Jefferson Davis County School District, Union County School District, Bay St. Louis-Waveland School District, Vicksburg-Warren School District, Tupelo Public School District, Lauderdale School District and Wayne County School District.

The Mississippi Legislature appropriates state funding to provide public schools with a grant opportunity to implement Pre-K programs. Like the ELCs, the 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.

The grant period is July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028. Awarding of the grant each year is contingent on the successful completion of services, a performance evaluation, and the availability of funds.