School board works to revive Education Foundation

JACKSON, Tenn. — A foundation created to help Jackson-Madison County students and teachers is being revived.

The Education Foundation was originally born out of the lawsuit that decided who funds Jackson-Madison County Schools.

“I want to make sure it’s active, and if I wasn’t on the school board, I’d love to be on it,” said Jackson-Madison County School Chairman Pete Johnson.

It’s made up of nine people chosen by the county, city and school board. It’s funded through excess sales tax dollars and fundraisers.

But for different reasons, the foundation stopped meeting.

“Well, a lot of things happened,” Johnson said. “For instance, Scott Conger was elected mayor; he is the current chair and president. Jeff Wall was elected county commissioner. We also had some people move out of town.”

The small group, made up of school board members Shannon Stewart, Pete Johnson and A.J. Massey, along with Interim Superintendent Ray Washington, County Commissioner Jeff Wall and secretary Janith Stack, met Friday to discuss getting the foundation up and running again.

“We have so much support in the county for this school system. I think it’s going to be easy to get new members reappointed. I think they’ll be excited to do fundraising, to get funds for the foundation and for projects for the school system,” Johnson said.

Johnson said this is a foundation they want to see going again because it’ll not only help the students of Jackson and Madison County, but also the teachers.

“Youth services, things that actually support kids, teachers getting degrees, teachers’ assistants that may actually need degrees, using that funding that’s generated by the foundation,” Johnson said.

Interim Superintendent Ray Washington said he plans on contacting Mayor Scott Conger so the foundation can meet in coming weeks.