The Fort Worth ISD board voted 7-1 Tuesday night to appeal a decision by state educators to assume control over the struggling district, a decision that injects new uncertainty into a takeover that has upended the district.
The vote to request the State Office of Administrative Hearings to reconsider the intervention came at the end of a four-hour school board meeting.
Kevin Lynch was the lone dissenting vote while trustees Anael Luebanos, Anne Darr, Camille Rodriguez, Michael Ryan, Quinton Phillips, Roxanne Martinez and Wallace Bridges all voted in favor of the measure. Tobi Jackson did not vote because of a technical issues.
The takeover, which was announced Oct. 23 after a Fort Worth ISD campus received a failing grade for five consecutive years, would be the second-largest in Texas history following the state’s actions with the Houston ISD in 2023.
The Education Lab
Education Commissioner Mike Morath is set to replace the elected school trustees with a board of managers, as well as appoint a new superintendent. He has already named conservator Christopher Ruszkowski to oversee school administrations and report to the state.
In the weeks leading up to the Tuesday night vote, the board asked Morath to reconsider the intervention, saying that their schools’ accountability ratings made progress last year. Some trustees met privately with Morath in Austin to discuss the takeover.
In a Nov. 6 newsletter to Fort Worth ISD families, Board President Roxanne Martinez said the board “strongly disagrees with this decision.”
“We believe our district has demonstrated meaningful progress and that local governance, supported by our community, is essential to sustained student success,” she wrote.
The takeover has left the Fort Worth ISD community feeling shaken. Last week, in the same room where the trustees were seated, Fort Worth ISD parents, alumni and teachers pressed TEA Deputy Commissioner for Governance Steve Lecholop, lining up to speak at a microphone. They questioned him on the implications of the state’s decision on staffing, curriculum and more.
For now, Fort Worth ISD trustees and families will need to wait to hear back on what the State Office of Administrative Hearings says. Even during the office’s review, enforcement of the takeover continues.
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