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The Texas Education Agency will remove the Fort Worth Independent School District’s elected board members and may appoint a new superintendent to oversee its operations, Commissioner Mike Morath announced Thursday morning.
The decision to assume control of the North Texas district follows months of speculation about how the state would respond to one of the Fort Worth campuses not meeting Texas’ academic accountability standards for five consecutive years. The district closed the sixth-grade campus at the end of the 2023-24 school year, but Morath indicated in the spring that state law still required him to intervene.
Dallas’ local news station WFAA first reported news about the takeover Wednesday evening.
In a statement Wednesday night, the district said it was aware of media reports about state action but would wait for an official announcement before sharing information with families.
“Our focus remains on our students by providing uninterrupted learning,” the statement read. “We are grateful to our educators and staff for their continuous commitment to our students and families.”
State takeovers of districts can only be initiated if one of its schools receives a failing grade from the TEA for five consecutive years, and allows the replacement of elected school board members with state appointees. The state can also direct districts to shut down the failing schools rather than replace the school boards with a board of managers.
While Fort Worth ISD shut down Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade before the TEA gave it its fifth F rating, Morath said in a March letter that it would not halt potential state action.
Fort Worth ISD was among five school districts at risk of a state takeover, a record number in Texas. Beaumont, Connally, Lake Worth and Wichita Falls independent school districts have all amassed five consecutive failing grades at one or more of its campuses. Morath visited Lake Worth ISD on Tuesday, where Marilyn Miller Language Academy received five consecutive F ratings.
A state takeover of the North Texas district would be the second largest in the state, and Morath visited three of its schools in August as the TEA considered a takeover.
With the state taking control of Fort Worth ISD, there have been 11 state takeovers of districts in Texas since 2000, including Houston Independent School District, which is the state’s largest. That takeover began in 2023 and was extended to 2027 in June.