Fort Worth ISD is raising pay at several struggling campuses, offering teachers starting salaries of $100,000 as the district prepares for a state takeover following years of declining academic performance.
Through the Accelerated Campus Excellence program, also known as ACE, Fort Worth ISD plans to attract experienced teachers and administrators to some of the district’s lowest-performing schools, according to the Fort Worth Report.
Starting salaries for teachers at ACE campuses will begin at $100,000. The salary increases also extend to campus leadership, with elementary principals earning $130,000 and middle school principals earning $145,000, according to the Fort Worth Report.
The starting salary exceeds the median household income in Fort Worth, which was $82,503 in 2024, according to City-Data.
When compared with statewide elected officials, the middle school principal salary is higher than the annual pay of the Texas commissioner of agriculture or the Texas railroad commissioner.
Karen Molinar assumed leadership of the district after Superintendent Kent Scribner resigned in 2024. Student performance has shown limited improvement during that period.
According to the Texas Education Agency, 41% of the district’s third- and fourth-grade students met grade-level standards, a modest increase from 33% in 2024.
Student enrollment has also continued to decline.
Enrollment for the 2025–2026 school year was 67,641 students, a significant decline from the peak of 87,432 students during the 2016–2017 school year.
Enrollment is projected to fall even further to 60,155 students by the 2030–2031 school year, according to the Fort Worth Report.
Since Molinar took over in 2024, the district has lost nearly 3,000 students.
Despite the $100,000 starting pay for teachers, declining enrollment and academic performance concerns led Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath to intervene. In October, Morath announced that the state would take over Fort Worth ISD following years of academic underperformance, triggering state intervention, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The announcement prompted nearly 300 applications from stakeholders both inside and outside the district seeking appointment to the incoming board of managers.
Molinar had hoped to remain as superintendent, but Morath announced in early March that she was not selected for the permanent role.
“These needs require specialized leadership that can rapidly improve the trajectory of the district,” Morath told CBS News.
Texas State Board of Education member Brandon Hall echoed concerns about the district’s long-running academic struggles, noting that student outcomes in Fort Worth ISD have been “abysmal across the board for well over a decade.”
“The needs of FWISD require a superintendent with a proven record of turning around large, urban school districts. There is much value to bringing in someone from outside the FWISD system. The turnaround process calls for difficult decisions that are often complicated by long-established personal relationships. Commissioner Morath has the opportunity to bring in a leader with fresh perspectives and the independence needed to make tough decisions and break from the status quo that has failed students,” Hall said.