From the Garland Local History & Genealogical Society, Volume 2-Number 2, June 1993
EARLY EDUCATION IN DALLAS COUNTY
Author: Unknown
We are indebted to Mr. Earnest Hill for procuring the following articles from the files in the Dallas County School Superintendent’s office:
“It would be very difficult to pinpoint a specific date on the calendar to mark the beginning of formal schooling in Dallas County. It is known however, that almost immediately after the creation of need to see to the education of their children (they) proceeded to do something about it. Much of this early teaching was done in the home by the mother or a neighbor even before the Commissioners Court legally accepted, on April 8, 1854, the responsibility for taking the scholastic census. The schooling, of course, was a community undertaking and cost no one anything.
There is considerable evidence which places a school near Lancaster as early as 1846. It was a one-room log cabin with a dirt floor. Farmer Branch, which boasted a blacksmith shop, a Baptist and a Methodist Church, and a post office; another of the progressive communities in Dallas County also had one of the earlier schools in the country.”
The following Historical Notes on Dallas County Schools, compiled by L.A. Roberts, read thusly.
“The first legislature of Texas created Dallas County on March 30, 1846.
Dallas County Commissioners Court officially authorized the location of land including three leagues on May 23, 1854.
Thirty-four school districts were created by the Commissioners Court (which) first made provisions for schools in the form of apportioning funds on September 23, 1858.
Dallas County issued the first teacher’s certificate on February 22, 1859, to W.H. Brundage.
The State Constitution of Texas was amended to permit the adoption of the District School System and the voting of local taxes for common school districts in 1883.
The School Law of 1884 created the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The County Superintendency was made optional in most populous counties in 1887.
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Mr. Hill was also able to get from the Dallas County Treasurer’s records data which shows that teacher’s salary vouchers were paid by the County Treasurer as shown by copies from the pages of the Treasurer’s ledger. These accounts were available for six of the eight schools we have researched and date from as early as 1885 to 1902 in some instances.