Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced a state takeover of Fort Worth ISD on Thursday morning.
The state intervention comes after one of Fort Worth’s campuses earned a failing rating for five consecutive years. Now Morath, after months of deliberation, will move to appoint a new board of managers and superintendent to govern the district.
Morath’s announcement makes Fort Worth ISD, which serves nearly 70,000 students, the second-largest district to undergo state intervention. The TEA took over control of Houston ISD, the state’s biggest district, in 2023.
Here’s what to know about a state takeover.
The Education Lab
What triggers a state takeover?
The Texas Education Commissioner can intervene after a district’s campus earns a failing grade in the state’s A-F academic accountability ratings for five consecutive years. Those ratings are largely based on standardized test scores.
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State law requires the commissioner to either appoint a board of managers to govern a district or order the closure of a consistently failing campus. The commissioner can also order a state takeover if a district demonstrates financial or governmental issues.
In Fort Worth ISD, the failing school that spurred the takeover is Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Grade. The school received its fifth failing grade in 2023. District officials closed the campus the same year.
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Considerations about a takeover did not occur until this year because the 2023 accountability grades were released only this year, after lawsuits delayed the TEA from releasing those ratings for two years.
What does a state takeover look like?
The commissioner appoints a board of managers to replace the district’s trustees and institutes a new superintendent.
The state agency will call for applications in the Fort Worth ISD community to join the board of managers. Applicants will be screened, interviewed and trained in governance for improving student outcomes, according to the agency’s website. The commissioner has final say on the appointees.
Appointees should include community leaders, business representatives who have expertise in leadership, or individuals who have knowledge or expertise in education, according to the agency’s laws and rules.
A board of managers serves for two years. If the commissioner decides to extend the takeover, he can extend the board for two more years, according to state law.
How long will Fort Worth ISD be under state-appointed leadership?
After a board of managers has led the district for two years, Morath will have to announce a timeline for a return to local control or an extension of the state takeover for up to two years.
What other districts have undergone state takeovers?
Houston ISD, the state’s largest district, has been under state-appointed leadership since 2023 after a campus received failing grades multiple years in a row. Morath extended the takeover to 2027 earlier this year.
Texas currently controls four additional districts: Marlin ISD, Shepherd ISD, South San Antonio ISD and La Joya ISD.
The state has controlled 15 school districts in the last 30 years, according to The Houston Chronicle. Of those, four closed entirely after regaining control.
Beaumont ISD was taken over in 2014 after a series of financial issues, including embezzlement by administrators and the mismanagement of a $388 million bond. The district regained local control in 2020. It is now facing a potential takeover after a school received failing grades for five years.
Edgewood ISD was taken over in 2016 after it failed to hire a superintendent. It transitioned back to local control in 2018.
Do state takeovers help schools improve?
Opinions vary on whether state takeovers improve students’ academic performance.
A 2021 study from researchers at the University of Virginia and Brown University, looking at state takeovers between 2011 and 2016, found “no evidence that takeover generates academic benefits.”
But Morath defends the efficacy of Texas’ takeovers. He has said that in “every single intervention, the results were higher, or at least, no worse after the board manager was placed than before.”
In Houston ISD, the district’s 121 D and F-rated schools have dropped to 18 D-rated and zero F-rated campuses under state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles’ leadership. But parents have pushed back against his leadership style and questioned some of his decisions, such as curriculum changes, according to The Houston Chronicle.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.