Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-508 (2026)
Breach of contract - Effect on tenure
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a) A teacher shall give the director of schools notice of resignation at least thirty (30) days in advance of the effective date of the resignation. A teacher who fails to give such notice, in the absence of justifiable mitigating circumstances, shall forfeit all tenure status under this part; provided, that the board may waive the thirty (30) days' notice requirement and permit a teacher to resign in good standing.
- (b) Any teacher who breaks a contract with a board of education without a justifiable reason as listed in subsection (c) shall not be given permanent tenure status in any other school system in this state, until such teacher has met all of the requirements in such system for attaining permanent status plus the serving of five (5) continuous years in lieu of the three (3) continuous years required in § 49-5-503; provided, that the local board of education against which the teacher has broken a contract informs the commissioner of education of the breach of contract and requests the commissioner to so notify all local boards of education in this state. The local board of education may later inform the commissioner that it is no longer holding the breach of contract against the teacher, in which event the local board of education shall request the commissioner to so notify all local boards of education in this state. If and when the local board of education informs the commissioner that it is no longer holding the breach of contract against the teacher, the penalty in this subsection (b) against the teacher shall immediately become ineffective, null and void.
- (c) The conditions under which it is permissible to break a contract with a local board of education are as follows:
- (1) The incapacity on the part of the teacher to perform the contract as evidenced by the certified statement of a physician approved by the local board of education;
- (2) The drafting of the teacher into military service by a selective service board; or
- (3) The release by the local board of education of the teacher from the contract that the teacher has entered into with the local board of education.
Acts 1951, ch. 76, § 9 (Williams, § 2345.9); Acts 1961, ch. 226, § 3; 1974, ch. 654, § 78; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 49-1408.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3
cases, 2000–2012 · leading case: Saundra Thompson v. Memphis City Schs. Bd. of Educ., 395 S.W.3d 616 (Tenn. 2012).
Saundra Thompson v. Memphis City Schs. Bd. of Educ., 395 S.W.3d 616 (Tenn. 2012). “Seizing on the words “breach of contract” in section 49-5-706, the Board argues, based on the heading and text of section 49-5-508(a), that Ms. Thompson’s *626 breach of contract-her failure either to return from sick leave or to give proper notice that she would not be…”
Bowden v. Memphis Bd. of Educ., 29 S.W.3d 462 (Tenn. 2000). “§ 49-5-504(b), which requires notice by the superintendent, is a limitation on Tenn.Code Ann. § 49-5-508(2), which grants permanent tenure status when a teacher is reemployed after the probationary period.”
Saundra Thompson v. Memphis City Schs. Bd. of Educ. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2012). “A teacher who fails to give such notice, in the absence of justifiable mitigating circumstances, shall forfeit all tenure status under this part; provided, that the board may waive the thirty (30) days' notice requirement and permit a teacher to resign in good standing.”
Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-508(2): 1 case
Bowden v. Memphis Bd. of Educ., 29 S.W.3d 462 (Tenn. 2000). “§ 49-5-504(b), which requires notice by the superintendent, is a limitation on Tenn.Code Ann. § 49-5-508(2), which grants permanent tenure status when a teacher is reemployed after the probationary period.”
Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-508(a): 2 cases
Saundra Thompson v. Memphis City Schs. Bd. of Educ., 395 S.W.3d 616 (Tenn. 2012). “Seizing on the words “breach of contract” in section 49-5-706, the Board argues, based on the heading and text of section 49-5-508(a), that Ms. Thompson’s *626 breach of contract-her failure either to return from sick leave or to give proper notice that she would not be…”
Saundra Thompson v. Memphis City Schs. Bd. of Educ. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2012). “A teacher who fails to give such notice, in the absence of justifiable mitigating circumstances, shall forfeit all tenure status under this part; provided, that the board may waive the thirty (30) days' notice requirement and permit a teacher to resign in good standing.”
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