Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath is holding a news conference Thursday morning.
Texas Education Agency officials did not provide details about what Morath will discuss with reporters.
The Fort Worth Report will provide updates following the 9 a.m. call.
On Tuesday, Morath was in the area as he toured schools in Lake Worth ISD, one of two Tarrant County districts facing a potential state takeover. He indicated his decision on Lake Worth schools would be made once the district’s appeals conclude in December.
Fort Worth ISD, the city’s largest district with 67,500 students, also faces losing local control because of persistently failing schools. Morath visited FWISD in late August. At the time, he said his decision on a takeover of Fort Worth schools would happen within three months.
If a takeover occurs, the state would strip Fort Worth’s nine locally elected trustees of their decision-making authority. Morath would appoint a board of managers.
Morath has said state law requires him to either close a school that’s failed five straight years or replace the elected board of trustees. Fort Worth ISD officials preemptively closed the failing campus that triggered the law.
FWISD would not be in its current situation if local leadership made the right decisions, Morath said in August.
“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,” the commissioner said.
Jacob Sanchez is education editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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