"Not All Money is GOOD MONEY"...Kudos to Jones Co. School District

Via my blog reading list, I came across a blog entry on Education Matter discussing the lessons that can be learned from Jones County School District in middle Georgia. Apparently, a few days ago, its school board voted to REJECT its portion of federal funding from RTTT, which Georgia was one of the states who won one of the grant allotments. School Superintendent William Matthews gave a simple rationale for the refusal:

"To look at a teacher and say 'Well because your numbers did this we're going to give you something and because your numbers didn't we're going to deny you', it's just not founded in research," Mathews said. 

...

Mathews says he told board members to reject the funds because they would have had to use about half of the money for teacher merit pay. He says research he found does not show it works, and that the district might have had to raise taxes to continue to fulfill a required pledge to continue the reforms after the grant runs out. 

"It was not just money to relieve our taxpayers of a burden or do some things that we want to do," Mathews said. "It was targeted, and very specific, and very restrictive as to what we could do...not all money is good money."

In the midst of hard economic times, this rural school district sacrificed a whole lot of money (almost $1.5 million) for not following the rules and looking out for their teachers. Instead of caving in, this district stood on its principles and refused to compromise them. This is the type of courage and heart needed for the ed deformers to take us seriously.

Kudos to Jones County School District for taking a stand and doing what's right! We can only hope and pray others districts in Georgia and elsewhere will follow suit...