Behind the Headlines Podcast · WKNO/The Daily Memphian

1608: Early Childhood Education

·32 min·2 clips

Thomas says childcare can cost more than $1,000 a month and Memphis has only about 8,500 publicly funded seats.

1. Behind the Headlines Podcast episode 1608 focuses on early childhood education in Memphis and Shelby County. 2. Eric Barnes moderates the discussion with Candace Thomas of First Eight Memphis, Sean Lee of Porter-Leath, and Daily Memphian reporter Laura Testino. 3. The episode asks what the return of the $30 million Head Start contract means for 3,000 children and for the county’s early learning system. 4. Sean Lee says Porter-Leath has been in Memphis since 1850 and is marking its 175th anniversary. 5. He says Porter-Leath now serves about 44,000 children birth to five through preschool, Books from Birth, and foster care. 6. Candace Thomas says First Eight Memphis is six years old and works to align early care and education from prenatal to age eight. 7. She describes the group’s role as building access to high-quality care and increasing awareness of early childhood importance. 8. Lee says Porter-Leath became the grantee for the Head Start contract on July 17 and had to move quickly. 9. He says the organization already has more than 1,000 children enrolled and 47 partners engaged across the community. 10. He also says Head Start is a national model with about 1,600 grantees serving about 830,000 children. 11. Thomas says the benchmark for high-quality early care and education is about $12,500 per child. 12. She says Memphis and Shelby County use state voluntary pre-K, county commission money, city council money, and Head Start funds. 13. Lee says Porter-Leath uses classroom pods with compliance staff for education, nutrition, and facilities. 14. He says those teams can serve 20 to 30 classrooms and visit operators daily and weekly. 15. Thomas says national models estimate roughly 50% of Memphis and Shelby County early learning spaces are high quality. 16. She says quality is tied to teacher background, child outcomes, and the cost of better staffing. 17. Thomas says a child care center should raise concern if infants are kept in car seats for more than an hour. 18. She says families should look for age-appropriate books, adults speaking to children, and a sense that the child will be loved and safe. 19. The tone is policy-focused and practical, with Barnes pressing both guests for numbers, timelines, and accountability. 20. Listeners interested in Memphis pre-K funding, Head Start, and teacher recruitment will get the most from it, while people wanting personal stories may skip it.

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