Leslie Winningham

Leslie Winningham, former state representative for District 38, died Sunday, June 19, 2022 at the age of 81. Winningham earned an associate’s degree in forestry at Warren Wilson College and then a bachelor’s and master’s degree in education from Tennessee Tech. He became the youngest ever school superintendent in Tennessee when he was elected as the superintendent of Pickett County Schools in 1968. He was elected to the Tennessee Legislature in 1984 and would serve for 26 years. During his tenure in the State House, Winningham served as the chair of the House Education Committee for a decade and as chair of the Joint Select Oversight Committee on Education. He played a keep role in the establishment of the Tennessee lottery scholarship, the establishment of statewide Pre-K programs, and was instrumental in the passing of the Tennessee Coordinated School Health Improvement Act of 2000 and its statewide expansion in 2006, the Meth Free Tennessee Act of 2005, the Jason Flatt Act of 2007, the Tennessee Clean Energy Future Act of 2009.