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Education/Schools - Historical Notes

Tennessee Code Annotated
Tennessee Attorney General Opinions

Board of Education

The following acts once affected the board of education in Greene County but are no longer operative.

  1. Private Acts of 1978, Chapter 190, provided that at the regular August election in 1978, voters in Greene County were given the opportunity to vote on the question of electing the members of the Greene County Board of Education by popular vote.
  2. Private Acts of 1980, Chapter 251, created a seven member board of education for Greene County.  The members had to be 21 years of age, a citizen and resident of Greene County, and a resident of the district in which elected.  This act created the East, North, and Southwest School Districts.

Superintendent or Director of Schools

The acts referenced below once affected the office of superintendent of education in Greene County, but are no longer operative. 

  1. Private Acts of 1939, Chapter 131, provided for a superintendent of public instruction in Greene County.  The salary was $2,500 per annum and the term of office was four years  elected by the qualified voters of Greene County at the regular August election of 1940.
  2. Private Acts of 1953, Chapter 501, authorized a salary increase of $1,000 per annum in addition to the regular minimum salary schedule for the superintendent of public instruction.

General Reference

The following acts constitute part of the administrative and political heritage of the educational structure of Greene County but are no longer operative since they have either been superseded, repealed, or failed to receive local approval.  Also referenced below are acts which repeal prior law without providing new substantive provisions.

  1. Acts of 1794, Chapter 19, established Greeneville College in Green County on the plantation of the Reverend Mr. Hezekiah Balch.
  2. Acts of 1806, Chapter 8, incorporated Rhea Academy as the county academy of Greene County.  Named as trustees by this act were Benjamin McNutt, Valentine Sevier, James Galbreath, William Rankin, and William Dixon.
  3. Public Acts of 1822 (Ex. Sess.), Chapter 191, authorized the conveyance of part of the Harmony Church lot in Greene County to the trustees of Rhea Academy.
  4. Private Acts of 1827, Chapter 126, established the Greeneville Female Academy, and incorporated it for a period of fifty years.
  5. Private Acts of 1832, Chapter 76, Section 5, empowered the clerk and treasurer of the board of common school commissioners of Greene County to perform all the duties required of the late bank agent of Greene County, as are provided for the bank agency of Campbell County.
  6. Acts of 1841-42, Chapter 139, authorized the trustees of Rhea Academy to expend not more than $1,500 for purchasing a lot in the city of Greeneville, to be used for extending the academy and creating a female branch.
  7. Public Acts of 1871, Chapter 35, authorized the commissioners of Common Schools for Civil District Ten in Greene County to sell the "Wight School House Lot" which was no longer being used for school purposes and was so inconveniently located that it probably would never again be used for school purposes.
  8. Public Acts of 1893, Chapter 137, authorized Greene County to sell and transfer any title it had in the property known as Rhea Academy, thereby abolishing the county academy.
  9. Private Acts of 1901, Chapter 350, abolished School District #38 in the twenty-first civil district of Greene County.  This independent school district had been established by the Greene County Quarterly County Court at its July term, 1900.
  10. Acts of 1903, Chapter 449, established an independent school district in the twenty-first civil district of Greene County.  All special school districts which were non-taxing districts were abolished by the general education act of 1925.
  11. Acts of 1905, Chapter 275, established a school district out of portions of the first, fourteenth and fifteenth civil districts.
  12. Acts of 1905, Chapter 319, established an independent school district in the first civil district of Greene County.
  13. Acts of 1905, Chapter 368, established an independent school district out of the fifteenth civil district of Greene County and the thirteenth civil district of Washington County.
  14. Acts of 1905, Chapter 372, established an independent school district in the twelfth, seventeenth, and fourteenth civil districts.
  15. Acts of 1907, Chapter 263, established a school district in the fifteenth civil district of Greene County.
  16. Acts of 1907, Chapter 267, established an independent school district out of the tenth, twelfth, and thirteenth civil districts of Greene County.
  17. Acts of 1907, Chapter 274, changed the boundary between the fifteenth and twenty-second school districts in Greene County.
  18. Private Acts of 1911, Chapter 377, was a compulsory education law for Greene County.  This act required children between the ages of eight and sixteen to attend school for sixteen weeks or eighty days each year.  Exemptions from this act could be granted on the basis of physical or mental disability, sickness, extreme poverty, or a showing that the child was attending a private, parochial, or tutorial school providing a course of instruction similar to that taught in the public schools.
  19. Private Acts of 1935, Chapter 185, provided for the election of the county superintendent of public instruction by popular vote.  It was not as detailed as the law which subsequently superseded it, Private Acts of 1939, Chapter 131.
  20. Private Acts of 1935, Chapter 520, provided that in Greene County senior high schools could be established and maintained with an average daily attendance of forty or more pupils.
  21. Private Acts of 1967-68, Chapter 327, attempted to amend Private Acts of 1953, Chapter 501, by raising the additional compensation to be paid the Greene County superintendent of public instruction from $1,000 annually to $2,000.