BREAKING: Texas Education Agency Takes Over Fort Worth ISD

The Fort Worth Independent School District is now under the control of the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Commissioner Mike Morath announced at a press conference this morning. 

“After engaging in a comprehensive analysis of district data and a thorough vetting of district systems, leadership, and student results, I am hereby ordering the appointment of both a board of managers to govern the district and a conservator,” reads an official letter from Morath, obtained by WFAA.

The takeover was anticipated. By law, if any school in a district receives five consecutive failing grades in the A-F Accountability Ratings, which are calculated by the TEA and heavily affected by standardized testing scores, the commissioner is required to intervene, typically overhauling the entire district board, including the superintendent, or the district may elect to close entirely. In late August, Morath visited several FWISD campuses as part of a district assessment. At the time, Morath stated that his final decision would be made within three months. 

“What we have announced today is that the enforcement decision that we’re making, that we’re required to make under state law, is to install a board of managers for Fort Worth ISD,” Morath said. “So, this is not actually happening today. There’s a lot of process that we will unfold over the coming months.”

Two months of deliberation were enough for Morath, who announced the surprise press conference on Wednesday night. According to reports from NBC 5, FWISD Superintendent Karen Molinar and several of her board members were in Philadelphia attending a conference, with a speaking event scheduled for this morning, but they returned on the first available flight to Fort Worth.  

Morath confirmed that Molinar, who is new to her position, will retain it in the short term. However, she will need to reapply for it once a new board of managers, chosen by the TEA, takes power in the spring. The board of trustees will be replaced entirely.

“The decision is to install a board of managers,” he said. “A board of managers has the same powers and duties as an elected board of trustees. We will choose individuals from Fort Worth to serve on that board of managers.”

A district takeover typically lasts two years but can be subject to extension if the TEA does not deem the improvements to be sufficient.

“When the Texas Education Agency issues its official announcement, Fort Worth ISD will review it immediately and share verified information, beginning with our staff and families,” reads a statement released from FWISD on Wednesday night, responding to the press conference announcement. “Our focus remains on our students by providing uninterrupted learning. We are grateful to our educators and staff for their continuous commitment to our students and families.”

In the past, Morath has replaced an entire school board. It is not clear whether he will do that in Fort Worth ISD. The commissioner saved himself another trip back to North Texas by tacking the press conference on his week’s agenda, which features a visit to another Tarrant County school district facing a takeover. On Tuesday, while visiting Lake Worth ISD, the worst-rated district in North Texas, he alluded to his preference for state board-selected district leaders. 

“Ultimately, the buck still stops with the local school board, and the school board is not brand spanking new,” Morath said while visiting a Lake Worth ISD campus. “The question is where was the urgency four years ago, five years ago, six years ago, to say, ‘It is our responsibility, we have been elected, we are held in trust by the taxpayers to provide for kids.’”

How We Got Here

In 2015, the state legislature passed a bill that required the TEA commissioner, a position appointed by the governor, to intervene with a district that receives five consecutive failing accountability ratings at any campus. There are no exceptions to the trigger law. 

But it only takes one campus in a district to herald a takeover. The Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Middle School’s sixth-grade campus, a now-defunct school whose students were absorbed by other campuses, received its fifth consecutive failing grade, prompting action. 

“Since the campus earned its fifth consecutive unacceptable academic rating in that year, the school’s subsequent closure has no bearing on, and does not abrogate, the compulsory action the statute requires the commissioner to take,” Morath wrote in a letter sent to Fort Worth ISD earlier this year and obtained by the Fort Worth Report. 

The school, which shuttered at the end of the 2023-24 school year, was one of almost 150 schools in the district. However, the district as a whole struggled, with 77 campuses receiving a failing grade in the latest accountability report, and the district itself receiving an overall D rating. 

Ahead of the takeover, the district remained steadfast in its efforts to improve its ratings, even approving controversial bible-infused learning materials supported by Morath. But it was not enough. 

“We remain focused on bold, strategic action to implement a restructured literacy and math curriculum framework that includes targeted training, high-quality instructional materials, and systemwide implementation,” read the Fort Worth ISD statement in response to the initial threat of a takeover at the beginning of the semester. “Together as a team, we are committed to equipping teachers with the resources they need and ensuring students receive consistent, high-impact instruction that accelerates learning and academic growth.”

Prior Takeover

Morath, who was appointed to commissioner in 2015 after serving on the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees, has taken over a handful of schools. The last and largest school district that surrendered to a takeover was Houston ISD in 2023. Morath completely replaced the entire school board, hand-selecting new leaders, including Mike Miles, former superintendent of Dallas ISD. 

The takeover in Houston, which was expected to last two to three years, has been recently extended by two years, keeping the district under the control of Morath and Miles until 2027. 

“Ultimately, two years has not been enough time to fix district systems that were broken for decades,” Morath wrote. “The extension of this intervention will allow the district to build on its progress and achieve lasting success for students once the board transitions back to elected leadership.”

Fort Worth ISD is one of three districts and the second-largest now under his control.