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Texas will replace the Fort Worth Independent School District’s elected school board with a state-appointed board of managers, effectively placing the district under the state’s supervision.
Fort Worth ISD has more than 70,000 students, making it the second largest district the agency has taken over since 2000, following the takeover of Houston ISD in 2023. The takeover was triggered by years of repeated low student performance at Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade, a campus in the district that has since closed.
“Multi-year unacceptable ratings represent a school district’s most fundamental mission failure, a complete inability to take necessary action, and the critical steps needed to educate students,” Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said in a letter to Fort Worth district leaders.
A takeover is meant to correct the course of struggling school districts, but it can become a fraught process since the district’s elected school board loses its decision-making power.
The state’s board of managers will be in charge of the school board’s duties, which include managing school budgets and setting district policies in areas like school safety and instruction, as allowed under state and federal laws.
School boards also typically hire superintendents to oversee everyday operations in their school districts. In a letter announcing the state’s intervention to the Fort Worth school board, Morath said he planned to also name a new superintendent and add a conservator, which he said would “ensure the district supports its low-performing campuses and implements the district’s turnaround plans.”
The Fort Worth school district can appeal, Morath noted in his letter, adding that he would not appoint new leaders until that process concluded. Current school district leaders can provide additional information for consideration and attend an Oct. 30 hearing. If the TEA decides to move forward with its overhaul of the district, Fort Worth ISD leaders can file another petition appeal with the State Office of Administrative Hearings.
In a statement, the Fort Worth ISD Board of Trustees said it was reviewing the commissioner’s decision and exploring all available options.
“Our elected Board is in the best position to drive the sustainable improvements the Commissioner seeks, with measurable progress already underway,” Board President Roxanne Martinez said in the statement. “We respectfully ask him to reconsider his decision as we continue partnering with families, educators, and state leaders to keep this momentum going for every Fort Worth ISD student.”
Here’s what a takeover means for Texas school districts.
When do takeovers happen?
The TEA oversees roughly 1,200 school districts and grades them on academic performance, largely based on the state-approved standardized tests. (State lawmakers this year overhauled the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test due to concerns that it creates too much stress for students and takes up too much teaching time.) Under state law, the state education commissioner can intervene when districts consistently underperform.
For example, the commissioner can appoint a conservator to oversee a district or campus, but the district’s school board and superintendent could remain in place.
The commissioner can also suspend a school district’s elected leaders and temporarily replace them with a board of managers if a district fails to meet accreditation, academic performance or financial standards.
For example, the TEA appointed a board of managers in El Paso ISD in 2012 after a cheating scandal. It also appointed a board of managers in Beaumont ISD in 2014 because of financial mismanagement.
The commissioner can also appoint a board of managers in a school district that has been under a conservator for two years.
According to a 2015 state law, the threshold for a takeover because of academic underperformance is failing grades for five consecutive school years. At that point, the commissioner is required to appoint a board of managers or close the campus. State Rep. Harold Dutton, a Houston Democrat, has said he wrote the law to force districts and the state to reckon with long-struggling schools.
Fort Worth’s Leadership Academy at Forest Oak, formerly known as Glencrest 6th Grade School, received a fifth unacceptable rating when the state’s accountability ratings for the 2022-23 school year were released earlier this year.
Fort Worth leaders had already closed the school before the ratings were released, but Morath said in his letter to the school board that he was still required to intervene because the campus had reached the threshold of underperformance.
“Furthermore, this closure action did not address the district’s underlying systemic deficiencies that caused the chronic underperformance,” he said in his letter to district leaders.
How does a takeover work?
When the TEA takes over, the power of the school board is suspended and given to a state-appointed board of managers. In a job description posted online, the TEA outlined that the essential job functions for managers replacing a school board would include evaluating the superintendent and preparing the locally-elected school board to eventually return.
The board of managers is also required to hold public meetings under the Texas Open Meetings Act.
The current school board members can continue serving in an advisory capacity, like other community members, without decision-making power. Elections for the school board of trustees will continue as normal, according to the TEA. And once the commissioner decides to end the appointment of the board of managers, the most recently elected school board members will be phased back into governing the school district.
In a statement, Fort Worth Superintendent Karen Molinar said Morath also would “announce and appoint a Superintendent after reviewing prospective superintendent candidates, which will include myself.”
How long do takeovers last?
The TEA commissioner can decide to remove the state-appointed board of managers and return the district to local control if the failing campus receives a passing grade for two consecutive years, according to state law.
If the campus is still failing, the commissioner can extend the managers’ appointment or consult with the community to decide whether to place a new board of managers, state law says. Earlier this year, for instance, Morath extended the state oversight of Houston ISD through 2027.
Once it is determined that the campus or district has met standards, the commissioner can announce a transition timeline. On average, boards of managers have been placed for two to six years, an agency spokesperson previously told the Tribune in 2023.
Who can be on a board of managers?
State law says most managers on the board must be residents of the school district.
Appointed managers would have to be eligible voters within the district’s boundaries, as is the case for elected school board members, according to the TEA. The agency says ideal candidates will have experience in areas such as public education, parent or neighborhood advocacy, social work, psychology, business, finance or law.
The TEA is accepting applications for managers for Fort Worth ISD until Nov. 21, according to its website. Morath said he planned for the board of managers to “consist of Fort Worth community members who are committed to governing effectively to support positive change for the students of the district.”
What does a takeover mean for the Fort Worth school district?
It is still unclear what exactly this will mean for students, parents and staff of Fort Worth ISD. Like a school board, decisions about the district’s budget, staffing and instruction will largely be left up to the appointed board of managers.
The TEA will not be involved in the day-to-day operations of the district, but the commissioner can replace a manager if there are issues, such as a resignation or malfeasance.
The TEA announced two information sessions about the takeover process for Fort Worth ISD members in November. You can find details here.
The Fort Worth takeover would be the 11th time the TEA has replaced a district’s school board and superintendent with a board of managers since 2000, according to a TEA FAQ. It still manages the Houston, Shepherd, La Joya and South San Antonio districts. The TEA has returned or began returning oversight of six other districts to their local school boards.
Why are takeovers controversial?
Critics in the past have raised concerns about possible layoffs or turnover, given a history of dramatic changes during some state takeovers in the U.S. Some takeovers in Texas have also led to big staffing changes. When North Forest ISD was annexed to Houston ISD after a 2008 takeover, only 25 of its roughly 350 teachers were hired by Houston ISD, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Critics also say takeovers strip communities of the power they have through their elected leaders, and the uncertainty and disruption can take a toll on community and staff morale.
In Texas, some opponents have questioned takeovers because they largely hinge on the results of the state’s standardized test, which some say don’t fully reflect how well schools serve their local communities. Texas lawmakers this year passed House Bill 8, replacing the STAAR test. Some Democrats weren’t satisfied with the plans for the new test, pointing to the power TEA continues to have on shaping it.
“We’re going to have TEA both create the test that determines whether or not the school and district are taken over by them,” Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, said. “That’s a conflict. They should not be in charge of creating the test.”
HB 8 also waded into how much flexibility TEA has in upping the benchmarks districts need to hit to get a good rating. Under the law, TEA has the power to refresh those goal posts every five years but must also announce any changes by July 15 of each year.
What is the success record of takeovers?
Overall, the success of takeovers in the U.S. is a “mixed bag,” experts have previously told The Texas Tribune. Some research has found student academic improvement after the takeover of districts, including in New Orleans and Lawrence, Massachusetts. But other case studies from across the country have found no improvement under state-appointed boards and mismanagement under some instances of state control.
In previous takeovers, the TEA placed boards of managers in four districts for academic issues and in six for governance or financial issues.
Academic performance in almost all districts improved from before and after the appointment of the boards of managers, according to data presented by the TEA. In La Joya, which had governance issues, academic performance dropped by 5 percentage points. It’s unclear how these academic gains compare with those across other school districts in the state.
Houston ISD has seen dramatic changes under state-appointed leaders. Twenty-eight of the district’s almost 300 campuses were quickly overhauled in the months after the takeover, which included reopening staff jobs with higher pay in hopes of attracting the best educators. Some school libraries were also shuttered and converted into disciplinary centers.
State-appointed leaders have pointed to improved student test scores and progress on the state’s A-F accountability ratings as proof that the state intervention is working. The district has also seen thousands of employees leave and plummeting student enrollment. Community members have raised concerns that schools were becoming militaristic environments that limit teachers from teaching in ways that they see fit and exhaust and disengage children.