The campus had already closed at the end of the 2023-24 school year, merging with another school in the district with TEA approval, but by the time the ratings were finally released, Morath was looking into abiding by the trigger law.
“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 the letter obtained by the Fort Worth Report.
The ratings, which were based on 2023 preliminary academic evaluations that had been delayed by several district-led lawsuits challenging the efficacy of the A-F system used, gave Fort Worth ISD an overall grade of D, with 77 of 147 campuses receiving a failing grade. Scores are largely determined by students’ scores on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, the state’s standardized test that is being considered for retirement following long-term disapproval from educators and now the Republican Party.
In his letter, Morath indicated he would be personally assessing the status of Fort Worth ISD as a whole, and last Thursday, he delivered on that promise by visiting three district campuses.
“It is critical that district leadership take aggressive action to improve the academic lives of students in Fort Worth ISD, immediately,” he wrote. “I will be evaluating the operations and leadership of Fort Worth ISD more closely in the coming months.”
The district responded to his letter and appealed the use of the 2023 preliminary ratings, but Morath is still expected to make his decision within the next three months.
"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. “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.”
A Foreboding Houston Takeover
In 2023, Morath, who was appointed to his position by Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been a critic of public education and Houston ISD specifically, was forced to intervene in the Southeast Texas district after Wheatley High School received its fifth failing rating, automatically triggering the takeover.The TEA takes over a district by replacing the elected school board officials with an appointed board of managers, which then becomes the district's governing body.
In Houston, Morath appointed a new superintendent, Mike Miles, who served as the superintendent for Dallas ISD for a short but controversial three years. While the two men applaud the district's progress, parents and students under the regime disagree. In November 2024, 130 parents and students testified at a school board meeting, and many of them called for the superintendent’s resignation. Houston ISD teachers have also criticized Miles and some of his reform efforts.
"We have about 6,000 members," Jackie Anderson, with the Houston Federation of Teachers, said to Houston Public Media. "So I wouldn’t say it’s just a few naysayers. I would say it’s over half of your teachers."
Miles was embroiled in other controversies when the Texas Observer reported that the superintendent had been syphoning district funds to a Colorado charter school nonprofit he served as the CEO of. The TEA launched an investigation and exonerated Miles. But the scandal left a stain on his already-tarnished reputation.
Regardless, Miles remains the state-appointed superintendent, and in June, the TEA announced that they would remain in control of the district for another two years, retaining power until 2027. In the release announcing the extension, Morath started by praising the district and its improvements, but continued to say it wasn't enough for the agency to leave the district to its own devices just yet.
“Houston ISD has always been a district with some of the highest performing schools in the country, but it was also a district that allowed some of its schools to fail students for over a decade,” he wrote. “... Ultimately, two years has not been enough time to fix district systems that were broken for decades. 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.”
What a joke. HISD leadership is a disaster. Their self-centered ineptitude has failed the children they are supposed to educate. If ever there was a school board that needs to be taken over and reformed it’s HISD. Their students & parents deserve change. https://t.co/atM45U3Jmr
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) January 3, 2019
What This Could Mean For Fort Worth ISD
The Association of Texas Professional Educators reports that the TEA has taken over roughly 16 districts to varying degrees, currently obtaining control of two of them. Fort Worth ISD, with almost 75,000 students and 144 schools, will be the second-largest district that the agency has seized control of, following Houston and leading El Paso. It only takes one school with five consecutive failing ratings for the TEA to take over the entire district.“The challenge here in Fort Worth is you see a level of student proficiency that is much lower than what we see in similar environments in districts across the state,” Morath said to the Report.
The district maintains that after several concerning years, its testing scores indicate strong improvements. In its most recent ratings, the district improved its overall score to a C and reduced the number of schools with an F grade from 31 to 11.
“If the commissioner is going to do anything with the district, he needs to keep in mind that our students and teachers need to remain focused,” Steven Poole, executive director of the United Educators Association, said to the Report. “We see the chaos that occurred in Houston when they were first taken over. Fort Worth doesn’t need that.”
Morath hasn’t given himself a hard deadline, but said he would release a determination within the next three months. If he decides the TEA should intervene, Morath will appoint a board of managers, effectively replacing the elected school board, to manage the district’s budget and set district-wide policies. The commissioner has the authority to replace any of his appointments at any time, and has done so several times in Houston ISD.
The superintendent will also be replaced by an appointee selected by Morath. The new governing body may make changes to staffing, salaries, or anything else it sees fit to improve the district.
