After falling a few percentage points short in enrollment in 2026, Shelby County has abandoned its goal of universal pre-k for all during recent backroom contract negotiations with childcare vendor First 8 Memphis.
County Commissioners received the update on Wednesday, June 10 during an Education Committee discussion on an amendment to the 2019 joint ordinance with the City of Memphis.
“That came from the Mayor’s office and his administration,” said First 8 Memphis Executive Director Kandace Thomas. “We did push back. We were told we had to accept the provision. It wasn’t something we could negotiate.”
The commission named First 8 Memphis the fiscal agent for the effort in 2022. Its job is to distribute grant dollars to a myriad of licensed early child care providers in the county. F8M’s five year contract ended this year. Negotiations began in November.
Despite last school year’s 97% rate of enrollment, Mayor Lee Harris has expressed dissatisfaction with the returns. However, the real culprit appears to be the difference paid between the county and the city.
According to the data, 83% of First 8 students fall within the federal poverty level. Moreover, 84% of the students are Black and live in five zip codes, all within Memphis city limits.
In 2025-26, the county invested $11.5 million of a total $20 million in funding for the head start program. Memphis makes up the rest.
“That school year demonstrated a 62% kindergarten readiness score, which is a more than 25% increase from when this program started in 2019,” said Thomas. “You should be incredibly proud of the investments and the improvements that we are seeing across early learning.”
However, the figure is locked in for another year — and the foreseeable future. Last week, on Tuesday, the City of Memphis agreed to $8.5 million in funding for the 2026-27 school year — the same amount as the previous year.
To achieve 100% enrollment, an estimated $22 million would need to be set aside for the nonprofit. According to the renegotiated terms of the agreement, if the county is saddled with additional costs, the contract is voided. Likewise, the joint ordinance.
“The county gives $1.35 for every $1 the city gives. If the county were to give $1.36, the program is terminated the way the contract reads. Completely terminated. You’d have to start over, like we did in 2019,” explained First 8 Memphis attorney Andy Jones.
Britney Thornton criticized the agreement. The outgoing commissioner represents one of the five zip codes that most utilizes the program, 38116.
“I’d advise the next mayor of Shelby County to renegotiate. These are horrible terms,” said Thornton.
During contract talks, the nonprofit did secure one victory. The language in the ordinance amendment calls for a single “entity” to serve as fiscal agent. A previous version used the word “entities,’ after Harris proposed using several fiscal agents — including child care providers themselves.
When given the opportunity during public comment, providers have spoken on behalf of the original format. Wednesday’s meeting was no different.
“Through First 8’s support, Hope House has been able to provide free early childhood education services to children ages 3 and 4, along with critical wraparound services including counseling and resource navigation,” said Hope House director of social services Melissa Ferrar.
The Memphis nonprofit provides services to HIV-infected individuals living in poverty. This includes early childhood education for their children. According to Ferrar, the people the nonprofit helps are typically stigmatized by the larger community.
“At Hope House, we find that consistency is essential to both the delivery of high quality care and building trust with families that have often experienced significant discrimination and barriers to support,” Ferrar said.
Furthermore, maintaining a single fiscal agent provides “stability, coordination and accountability necessary for programs like ours to succeed,” she added. Introducing multiple fiscal agents could disrupt or weaken the “safe, reliable programming our families depend on.”
A motion to send the ordinance amendment back to committee was proffered by commission Chairwoman Shante Avant. It met no objections and will be brought up again during the June 23 committee meetings.
The commission is also considering Harris’ proposed $1.6 billion county budget. The deadline for passage is June 30.
