Editing Mills County, Texas (section)

== Education ==
School districts covering parts of the county include:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st48_tx/schooldistrict_maps/c48333_mills/DC20SD_C48333.pdf|title=2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Mills County, TX|publisher=[[U.S. Census Bureau]]|access-date=2024-10-09}} - [https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st48_tx/schooldistrict_maps/c48333_mills/DC20SD_C48333_SD2MS.txt Text list]</ref>
* [[Brookesmith Independent School District]]
* [[Comanche Independent School District]]
* [[Goldthwaite Consolidated Independent School District]]
* [[Hamilton Independent School District]]
* [[Lometa Independent School District]]
* [[Mullin Independent School District]]
* [[Priddy Independent School District]]
* [[Zephyr Independent School District]]

Former school districts:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/dc10map/sch_dist/st48_tx/c48333_mills/DC10SD_C48333_001.pdf|title=SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP (2010 CENSUS): Mills County, TX|publisher=[[U.S. Census Bureau]]|access-date=2024-10-09}} - [https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/dc10map/sch_dist/st48_tx/c48333_mills/DC10SD_C48333_SD2MS.txt Text list]</ref>
* [[Star Independent School District]] - Merged into Goldthwaite ISD on July 1, 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tea.texas.gov/finance-and-grants/state-funding/additional-finance-resources/other-school-finance-topics/consolidations-and-annexations-thru-2023-2024.pdf|title=CONSOLIDATIONS, ANNEXATIONS AND NAME CHANGES FOR TEXAS PUBLIC SCHOOLS Updated July 1, 2024|publisher=[[Texas Education Agency]]|access-date=2024-10-09}}</ref>

All of Mills County is in the [[Central Texas College District]].<ref>[https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.130.htm Texas Education Code, Sec. 130.171.  CENTRAL TEXAS COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.].</ref>

=== History of education ===
[[File:South Bennett Students.jpg|left|thumb|South Bennett School students, c. 1911]]
Early settlers taught their children the rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic at home when time allowed and within the limited boundaries of what they knew.<ref name=":1" /> The first schools were held in the summertime under brush arbors, and teachers' meager pay was supplemented by gifts of provisions and free rent.<ref name=":1" /> Attendance was poor due to the long distances that students had to travel.<ref name=":1" /> Taught self-reliance and independence at home, lots of students defied the direction of teachers.<ref name=":1" /> One of the early school teachers before Mills County was Phil H. Clements, who was teaching in 1878 after moving to Williams Ranch.<ref name=":6" /> The concept of grades did not exist in the early days: students were classified according to reading level, e.g. second reader.<ref name=":1" /> Often older, advanced students were called upon to teacher their juniors.<ref name=":9" />

[[One-room school|School buildings]] started appearing in the 1860s and early 1870s, which were constructed by local men of logs with dirt floors, appointed with split-log benches and fireplaces, which a few years later were replaced by wood stoves.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":9" /> Eventually log schools evolved into lumber-based buildings as material became available.<ref name=":9" /> Schools usually had one room that had partitions made of panels or curtains for classrooms.<ref name=":1" /> Books were donated by parents.<ref name=":9" /> Most early schools had a tower with a bell, which rang out to announce the start of the school day.<ref name=":1" /> Most also had a stage with a curtain made of advertising squares promoting local merchants, along with artistic embellishments, which was a source of community pride.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Painted School Stage Curtains, Friends of Gillespie County Country Schools |url=https://www.historicschools.org/school-curtains.html |access-date=2023-09-02 |website=www.historicschools.org}}</ref> State support of pre-Mills County schools was minimal in the early days: for instance, Williams Ranch received ninety-nine dollars in 1878.<ref name=":6" /> Students brought simple lunches in lard buckets, usually consisting of leftover bisquits.<ref name=":1" /> In the early days, only Goldthwaite, Mullin, Priddy, and Star offered high school diplomas.<ref name=":1" />

An important order of business at the first meeting of the Mills County Commissioner's Court on October 12, 1887, was to incorporate schools that existed at the time into the a new county educational system, including establishing local school taxes.<ref name=":9" /> 
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|+Schools&nbsp;migrated&nbsp;to&nbsp;Mills&nbsp;County&nbsp;by&nbsp;court&nbsp;order&nbsp;in&nbsp;1887<ref name=":6" />
!Brown County
!Hamilton County
!Lampasas County
|-
|"Union District at Goldthwaite"
|District No. 35: Long Branch
|District No. 40: Big Valley
|-
|William Ranch at Williams Ranch
|District No. 46: Payne Gap
|District No. 31: Big Valley
|-
|William Ranch at William Ranch (Black)
|District No. 36: Center City
|District No. 35: Kelley
|-
|Rock Springs at Rock Springs
|District No. 39: Pleasant Grove
|
|-
|Browns Creek on North Brown Creek
|District No. 38 South Bennett
|
|-
|Pompey Mountain near Pompey Mountain
|District No. 37: North Bennett
|
|-
|Ewing on Bayou
|
|
|-
|Williams at Mouth of Blanket Creek
|
|
|-
|Blanket Springs on Blanket Creek
|
|
|-
|Pleasant Ridge west of Blanket Creek
|
|
|-
|Cold Spring on Colorado River
|
|
|-
|Jones Valley on Colorado River
|
|
|-
|Hanna Valley on Colorado River
|
|
|-
|Buffalo Creek on Colorado River
|
|
|-
|Pompey Creek on Pompey Creek
|
|
|}
In 1900, Mr. and Mrs. T.W. Hatcher organized the Mills County Institute, also known as Hatcher University, in Goldthwaite on Fisher Street. It closed in 1907.<ref name=":6" />

In 1907, the "Self Culture Club" opened the first community library in the M.L. Brown Drug Store.<ref name=":6" /> Miss Alline Howell, a teacher at the Rye Valley School, gathered community support to open the first county school library in 1915.<ref name=":6" /> Its first collection of books were purchased as a lot from ''Farm and Ranch Magazine''.<ref name=":6" />

By 1910, there were fifty-two public schools in Mills County with sixty-five teachers, and by 1976, there were eighty-one schools.<ref name=":1" />

During the 1930s, with teachers desperate for jobs, school boards were able to make strenuous demands of teachers, often requiring them to live in the community where they taught, agree to leave the community only one weekend per month, participate in various community events, and sometimes agree to not marry.<ref name=":1" />

The Star School building, erected in 1940, is the only school in the county to be built by the [[Works Progress Administration|W.P.A.]]<ref name=":1" />

Today Mills County has four consolidated schools<!--The census bureau list lists all school districts with territory in the county, while the four consolidated schools are *in* the county. There are students who are zoned to schools in other counties-->: [[Goldthwaite Independent School District|Goldthwaite]], [[Mullin Independent School District|Mullin]], and [[Priddy Independent School District|Priddy]] [source included Star, which consolidated with Goldthwaite Consolidated ISD on July 1, 2014<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Goldthwaite Eagle - June 4, 2014 |url=https://1318.newstogo.us/editionviewer/default.aspx?Edition=5ebaa1b9-a754-4012-8096-207e0e791293 |access-date=2022-11-12 |website=1318.newstogo.us}}</ref>].<ref name=":1" />