Dozens of hands shot up as Pete Geren, president of Fort Worth ISD’s board of managers, asked a question to the audience gathered Tuesday inside the District Service Center.
Is reading a civil right?
The belief that it is, Geren said, shaped the district’s nearly $1.1 billion budget for 2026-27. The spending plan — which carries a $49.8 million shortfall — was approved in an 8-0 vote, with manager Tennessee Walker absent.
“People who believe reading is a civil right are going to like this budget,” Geren said.
The budget is the first adopted since Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath installed the leaders as part of a state intervention over wide-sweeping academic underperformance.
Superintendent Peter Licata described the budget as accelerating achievement at schools with the highest needs through new resources and setting an expectation that students will be proficient in reading, math and other subjects.
For example, the district plans to have all eighth graders take algebra, a move that eliminates seventh-grade math, he said.
“We are here because past outcomes have not met expectations of our community or the potential of our students,” Licata said.
The moves come at a price: increasing the shortfall. Chief Financial Officer Darla Moss noted a $13.5 million teacher pay raise package and a new $25.1 million school improvement model are partly driving up costs.
Reducing the shortfall is a priority in the new school year, Moss said.
Manager Frost Prioleau said he hopes the shortfall will shrink throughout the year. He said he will be looking for a return on FWISD’s new investments.
This year’s shortfall shrank after the district closed campuses, cut staff and slashed spending — moves the superintendent said were necessary.
“We made some difficult decisions, but they were what’s best for children, not adults,” Licata said.
Deputy Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury said the district reexamined how it distributed federal funds for schools serving low-income students. Instead of spreading the money across all schools, the district now targets gaps at Elevate Network campuses, he said.
The move unlocked $13 million in funding, Choudhury said.
“It’s a drop in the bucket when you look at it, but it was designed to target the gap — and that’s what we’re doing this year,” the deputy superintendent said.
The board of managers held a public hearing on the budget that saw four speakers. More than 60 people spoke during the meeting’s public comment portion.
Alexander Montalvo, a FWISD parent and activist, questioned why the district was inconsistent in how it presented information for the Elevate schools compared to other campuses.
“I want to know the campus level. What is going to be the expenditures and how is that money going to be applied?” said Montalvo, one of the four who spoke out about the budget.
FWISD administrators also reorganized some departments. Choudhury pointed to the literacy department, which previously only focused on reading instruction and related services. Now, it will focus on literacy and bilingual education, he said.
Leaders see a red flag in the budget: FWISD cannot keep pulling dollars out of its reserves. Within two years, the district projected $170 million in reserves — enough funds to operate the district for two months in an emergency.
The Government Finance Officers Association recommends school districts keep at least 90 days of operating funds within reserves.
Despite those financial pressures, Geren said the budget is a statement on the priorities for the board of managers and FWISD.
“This is a kids-first budget,” he said.
Jacob Sanchez is education editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez.
Disclosure: FWISD manager Pete Geren leads the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. FWISD manager Laurie George is a member of the Report’s reader advisory council. 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.
