Jan Macko and Andrea Macko Miller are dedicated to education.

Some preschools in the Pine Belt are feeling the sting of tough economic times as more parents become unemployed and pull their children from daycare to make ends meet.

As money tightens, the economy is squeezing working parents and day-care directors alike inside a vicious financial circle.

When the Mississippi Economic Council came through Meridian Thursday to talk about improving our state's economy, the bulk of their presentation was less about dollars and cents and more about providing a good education for our children.

We have more than 1,000 public schools in Mississippi. While they may vary in size, grade levels and demographics, they all shoulder the incredible responsibility of helping Mississippi's boys and girls learn, grow and develop into caring, competent and contributing adults.

The Lamar County School Board voted to consider adding a pre-kindergarten program to the district at its monthly meeting Tuesday night in Purvis.

The Mississippi Economic Council on Wednesday brought its traveling road show to McComb, one of 26 towns on a “marathon tour” promoting education and economic development. Blake Wilson, president and chief executive officer of the state chamber of commerce, presented an hour-long program at the regular meeting of the McComb Rotary Club. Also in attendance were members of the McComb Kiwanis Club and several elected officials.

Furthering Mississippi’s economic development gains starts not with a fresh crop of college graduates ready for the business world but a child who can read and comprehend by third grade, the Mississippi Economic Council's executive director said on Tuesday.

David Kirp is sold on early childhood education ("Bounds still making a case for pre-kindergarten in Miss.," July 29). Author of The Sandbox Investment and professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy, Kirp has been meeting with community and business leaders around the country and talking about how early childhood education must be a priority for America.

Sherrie Jones runs the Highway 90 Day Care and Learning Center in Pascagoula. Her clientele is mostly poor, black and Latino. She and her staff care for 67 children from infancy through age 12, some of them all day, every day, even in the summer.