Licata said after that round of cuts that it was due to the district operating as if it had 80,000 students. The district has lost more than 20,000 students in the last decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t do this, and we don\u2019t reduce where we\u2019ve lost a bunch of kids, what happens is we are increasing the budget and not tending to our resources, which are very limited,\u201d Licata said. \u201cIt\u2019s really not saving money, it\u2019s about spending more money that we don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fort Worth Independent School District Superintendent Peter Licata, left, talks to staff members while waiting to start his first day of school as the new superintendent on Monday, Aug. 10, 2026, in Fort Worth. Amanda McCoy FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM <\/p>\n
Soliz said Tuesday that district leadership has already begun working with principals at campuses across the district to make sure individual needs are met at each campus through the leveling process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a one size fits all formula,\u201d Soliz said, mentioning Elevate campuses<\/a> as an example. \u201cWe do know there are schools that have higher needs where we are not going to strip resources or staff because of a number. We know what resources need to be allocated to get those accelerated student outcomes we are seeking.\u201d<\/p>\n In an interview with the Star-Telegram, Chelsea Baldwin, deputy executive director of the United Educators Association, an organization that represents public school teachers in North Texas, said this sort of staff leveling happens at the beginning of most school years.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the time when they start looking at classrooms to see who\u2019s over, who\u2019s under, and they start rearranging or moving teachers around,\u201d Baldwin said. \u201cThe difference for Fort Worth is they\u2019ve always had a policy that governed who was chosen to be surplus. But this year that policy was suspended. So we don\u2019t know what criteria they\u2019re using to choose the teachers that are moving around.\u201d<\/p>\n Younger teachers or staff members new to the district typically get chosen for reassignment, Baldwin said. Texas does not keep track of student to teacher ratios after fourth grade, so most of the reassignments are expected to impact teachers of kindergarten to fourth grade.<\/p>\n This story was originally published August 25, 2026 at 1:49 PM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n