Fort Worth ISD’s nine locally elected trustees are out as Texas officials stepped in Thursday after years of poor student outcomes.
In the new year, a slate of state-appointed leaders will take over FWISD with its nearly 70,000 students and nearly 10,000 employees, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said during a news conference. Superintendent Karen Molinar’s future is in the hands of Morath, who plans to appoint a superintendent in the spring. Molinar will be a candidate, he said.
“Today nothing is actually changing. The elected school board is still in charge. Superintendent Molinar is still in charge,” Morath said
Morath launched the second-largest takeover in Texas history, marking the crescendo of Fort Worth ISD’s decade of academic failure. The stagnation resulted in the closure of a school that failed for five straight years. Substantive changes will come to the district next year, he said.
“This action is necessitated, unfortunately, because Fort Worth ISD has seen chronically low levels of support given to students and very low levels of academic performance,” the commissioner said.
Morath vowed the intervention will give students a needed boost. Some community members decried his decision to intervene in a locally directed turnaround just beginning to show progress.
In the meantime, Morath plans to appoint a conservator to oversee current leadership.
In a statement to the Fort Worth Report, school board President Roxanne Martinez said trustees respect the commissioner’s commitment to student success, but they are disappointed with his decision. Trustees want Morath to reconsider his decision because FWISD is heading in the right direction with locally elected leadership, she said.
“Our elected board is in the best position to drive the sustainable improvements the commissioner seeks, with measurable progress already underway,” Martinez said. “We respectfully ask him to reconsider his decision as we continue partnering with families, educators, and state leaders to keep this momentum going for every Fort Worth ISD student.”
During a Thursday morning news conference, Morath announced applications are open for the board of managers who will oversee Fort Worth ISD once the state formally assumes control.
While Morath is “impressed” with Molinar, the commissioner said he must consider all options to rebuild Fort Worth ISD with an improved support system for student success.
“We want to make sure that we give the absolute best odds possible,” he said. “That means the leader has to be a technical expert on curriculum instruction, really understand teaching and learning, has to be a master strategist, has to be a master tactician.”
Fort Worth ISD students need change fast, Morath said. He pointed to Houston ISD as an example of how a system that rolled out systemic changes for low-income students now has no F-rated campuses.
“This is about closing gaps so that our moral vision for public education will be real. It will actually deliver as the great equalizer,” the commissioner said. “This is what we want to be true in Fort Worth.”
The state’s move follows decades of stagnant academic growth, campus closures and a recent breakdown in district leadership.
Texas law required state intervention after the Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade failed to meet state academic standards five years in a row.
FWISD officials closed the east Fort Worth school in May 2024, ahead of its expected fifth F grade, and consolidated its students into the adjacent Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Middle School.
TEA officials approved the plan and officially marked the sixth grade academy “obsolete.” Nearly two years later, the release of accountability ratings confirmed Forest Oak had indeed failed for its fifth consecutive year.
But by closing Forest Oak themselves, trustees removed the commissioner’s ability to act at the campus level, leaving Morath with only one option under state law: a districtwide intervention.
During an Aug. 28 tour of three Fort Worth ISD campuses, Morath said the district’s stalled progress signaled the need for state intervention.
“The challenge here in Fort Worth is you see a level of student proficiency that is much lower than what we see in similar environments in districts across the state,” he said.
Enrollment declines, budget shortfalls
The district’s broader performance also gave Morath reason to act.
Fort Worth ISD has lagged behind its peers in student achievement for a decade. In 2024, just 1 in 4 students met grade level on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, the same as the year before.
Roughly a third of students currently read on grade level, while slightly more than a quarter are on track in math. Algebra I performance is especially poor: Only 19% of students met grade level in 2024, the lowest number among districts in Fort Worth and far below pre-pandemic levels of 45%.
At the same time, enrollment is collapsing.
Following its peak of more than 87,000 students enrolled in 2016, FWISD lost more than 17,000 students over the subsequent years. Projections show enrollment could shrink to fewer than 60,000 by 2033.
That decline left Fort Worth ISD with too many schools for too few students and fueled a budget strain, officials said. Trustees decided to close 18 campuses over the next five years. This year, the district adopted a $1 billion budget with a $43.6 million shortfall.
Leadership changes
Leadership turmoil compounded the crisis, Fort Worth leaders previously said.
Superintendent Angélica Ramsey, hired in 2022 to improve student performance, quickly clashed with the school board.
In February 2024, she told trustees they breached her contract by shifting the goals they agreed upon for the basis of her evaluation. Instead of sticking with the original targets, Ramsey said, board members wanted to grade her on measures tied to current-year data.
Trustees evaluated the superintendent again later that summer and awarded a $15,000 retirement bonus, the lowest amount allowed by her contract.
By July 2024, tensions boiled over. Trustees rejected Ramsey’s proposed five-year strategic plan amid concerns about weak community engagement.
Mounting frustration from city leaders heightened the pressure.
In August 2024, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, joined by more than 40 civic leaders, publicly declared the district “unacceptable” and urged trustees to adopt a turnaround plan. She warned the district was failing to prepare students for the city’s future workforce.
By September 2024, Ramsey resigned, ending her tenure just over two years after she was hired.
New superintendent works to rebuild trust
Trustees turned to veteran FWISD administrator Karen Molinar in October 2024 to serve as interim superintendent. Molinar, who spent nearly her entire three-decade career in Fort Worth schools, guided the district for just over a year.
Trustees voted unanimously in March to hire Molinar full time.
As superintendent, she’s worked to rebuild trust with staff and parents while applying structural changes.
She’s overseen a redesign of instruction centered on early literacy, led the rollout of a new dyslexia model and pressed ahead on campus planning tied to the district’s 2021 bond.
The district saw gains on this year’s STAAR results and improved A-F accountability ratings.
In recent weeks, school trustees adopted state-developed reading materials featuring Bible stories. Molinar recommended Bluebonnet Learning because she saw it as the best choice to ignite further academic improvement.
However, three trustees voted against the adoption, expressing shared concerns with some parents about the materials choosing one religion over others. Some speakers said the district only adopted Bluebonnet because of the looming takeover.
“This is not because of a threat of a takeover,” Molinar said during a Sept. 23 meeting, in answer to the criticism.
Editor’s note: This is a developing story that will be frequently updated.
Jacob Sanchez is education editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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