FORT WORTH, Texas – The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is officially taking over the Fort Worth ISD school district, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath told FOX 4 on Thursday morning.
What we know:
“What we have announced today is that the enforcement decision that we’re making, that we’re required to make under state law, is to install a board of managers for Fort Worth ISD. So, this is not actually happening today. There’s a lot of process that we will unfold over the coming months. But the decision is to install a board of managers. A board of managers has the same powers and duties as an elected board of trustees. We will choose individuals from Fort Worth to serve on that board of managers,” Morath said.
Morath said TEA will be looking for a people in the community to fill the board of managers with a broad base of experiences and different backgrounds, including parents, community leaders, and professionals who are united in a belief that all children should be able to learn and achieve at high levels.Â
The backstory:
The decision follows months of uncertainty and comes after the state released 2023 accountability ratings in April.Â
Fort Worth ISD maintained the same C rating it received last year. While the district earned a D two years ago and reduced its number of F-rated schools from 31 in 2024 to 11 in 2025, a history of poor ratings kept it at risk of a state takeover.
A key factor in the decision was the now-closed Fort Worth ISD campus, which received a failing grade for the fifth consecutive year. State law requires Morath to either close the campus or take over the district in such a situation.Â
Fort Worth ISD chose to close the school in 2023, but the repeated failing grades ultimately triggered the state takeover.
Morath is now appointing a board of managers from within the Fort Worth community to replace the district’s elected school board members.
 Houston ISD has been under state control since 2023, with that arrangement planned to continue until 2027.
Possible Takeover of Lake Worth ISD
The TEA is also considering a state takeover of the much smaller Lake Worth ISD due to its low accountability ratings.
Morath, who heads the agency, visited the district’s six campuses in June. His attention was focused on the district’s dismal accountability ratings for the two most recent school years.
According to the TEA, five of the district’s six campuses had F ratings, and the remaining campus received a D. Marilyn Miller Language Academy had its fifth-consecutive unacceptable academic accountability rating.Â
Because of this, Morath said he has only two choices: close the school or take over the district.
The commissioner noted that Lake Worth ISD has had chronic academic problems at several campuses.
“The children of Lake Worth ISD deserve better. Bold action is needed to improve conditions for students in the district,” Morath wrote in part in a letter sent to the district’s new superintendent, Dr. Mark Ramirez.
Morath explained what students in the district have been missing.
“What has unfortunately been true in Lake Worth for a very long time is that the kids have access to schools that do have hard-working, loving adults, but they’re not consistently learning how to read, write and do math or science or history,” Morath said.
Ramirez, who started in June, was at the news conference but did not speak to the media.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the Texas Education Agency and previous FOX 4 coverage.