An influx of interest for the soon-to-be appointed board of managers for Fort Worth ISD pushed the Texas Education Agency to extend its application deadline.
Those seeking to serve on the board now have until 11:59 p.m. Dec. 1 to submit an application, TEA spokesperson Jake Kobersky said.
The agency has received more than 180 applications with another 800 in progress. Of the completed applications, 140 candidates live within the district.
“This overwhelming response demonstrates the community’s commitment to supporting the district’s students and their local schools,” Kobersky said. “TEA will thoroughly review each application and encourages anyone with a desire to serve and the belief that all students can learn to apply.”
Education Commissioner Mike Morath will appoint managers in the spring to replace FWISD’s nine locally elected trustees as part of the state taking control of the 67,500-student district. Managers will have the same powers and duties as the current trustees.
State law does not require managers to reside within a public school district’s boundaries, but Morath previously appointed managers who represent the local community in other interventions, TEA officials said.
Texas intervened in FWISD on Oct. 23 after a now-closed school received five straight F’s under the state’s academic accountability ratings that are largely based on STAAR results.
Trustees are fighting back on the takeover by appealing the commissioner’s decision. Board President Roxanne Martinez said Nov. 18 that the appeal allows for a deeper review of the intervention.
Morath tapped Christopher Ruszkowski, a former New Mexico secretary of education, to monitor district operations as FWISD’s conservator during the transition to state control.
Jacob Sanchez is education editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez.
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.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
