{"id":338723,"date":"2026-06-16T18:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/338723\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T18:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:55:07","slug":"fort-worth-isd-principal-turnover-hits-30-plus-campuses-amid-state-takeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/338723\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth ISD Principal Turnover Hits 30-Plus Campuses Amid State Takeover"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Exterior of the Fort Worth Independent School District Service Center building in Fort Worth, Texas. <\/p>\n

Fort Worth ISD has named new leaders at more than 30 campuses as the state-run district reshapes campus leadership following the Texas Education Agency takeover.<\/p>\n

District officials have framed the changes as part of an effort to align school leadership with Superintendent Peter Licata\u2019s academic priorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cFort Worth ISD is focused on strategic realignments under Superintendent Dr. Licata\u2019s leadership,\u201d a district spokesperson told<\/a> the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.<\/p>\n

As previously reported<\/a> by The Dallas Express, the Texas Education Agency replaced Fort Worth ISD\u2019s elected board with a state-appointed board of managers and named Peter Licata superintendent in 2026 following years of academic underperformance.<\/p>\n

Since taking over, state-appointed leaders have prioritized improving student outcomes and restructuring district operations.<\/p>\n

Enrollment Declines Continue Across Texas<\/p>\n

The leadership changes come as public school districts across Texas grapple with declining enrollment.<\/p>\n

According<\/a> to Texas 2036, statewide public school enrollment fell below 5.5 million students during the 2025-26 school year, marking the first year-over-year decline since the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

The decline represented a 1.4% decrease, or approximately 76,000 students.<\/p>\n

Fort Worth ISD has experienced enrollment losses of its own in recent years and recently approved the closure of 18 campuses.<\/p>\n

The district is not alone. According<\/a> to advocacy group Our Schools, Our Democracy, school districts including Lewisville ISD, Plano ISD, Coppell ISD, and Austin ISD have also faced declining enrollment and school closures.<\/p>\n

Licata Seeks To Retain Top Educators<\/p>\n

While district leaders continue to recruit new principals, Licata has emphasized that Fort Worth ISD hopes to retain many current campus leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to convince some of them that are really, really good that want to leave, to please stay,\u201d Licata told the Star-Telegram in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease, please, please stay. But we already accounted for about 40-60 percent (of teachers and principals to remain in place), so that\u2019s what we\u2019re preparing for. We\u2019ll know more as time goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Licata said the district\u2019s selection process for principals is rigorous and focused on identifying leaders who can drive academic improvement.<\/p>\n

The district has not publicly disclosed how many principal positions are currently vacant or how many leadership changes are expected ahead of the upcoming school year.<\/p>\n

The Dallas Express reached out to Fort Worth ISD for comment but did not receive a response.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exterior of the Fort Worth Independent School District Service Center building in Fort Worth, Texas. Fort Worth ISD…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-338723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}