Dexter Dotson walked into a Fort Worth ISD job fair with one teaching position left to fill at Richard J. Wilson Elementary.
The incoming principal moved among candidates, trying to reassure them that joining a district under state control would not mean being left alone to navigate new lessons, classroom routines and expectations.
“I’m not just a principal,” Dotson said. “I’m an instructional coach.”
Fort Worth ISD is counting on Dotson’s pitch after 1,102 teachers resigned or retired during the 2025-26 school year, according to records the Fort Worth Report obtained through a public records request. In that span, FWISD went from its lowest number of teacher departures total in that span to its highest in a single year. The departures mark the district’s biggest staff exodus in nine years and a nearly 60% higher number of exits than recorded in the previous year.
District leaders say declining enrollment meant they did not need to replace every employee who left. Repeated job fairs, a 5% teacher raise and higher salaries at targeted campuses helped reduce the number of remaining classroom vacancies to nine by Aug. 6, chief of staff Louis Kushner said.
But filling positions is not the same as replacing who left, educators said. The departures included 279 teachers with at least 10 years in FWISD — more than double the previous year exits — taking with them years of classroom experience, training and relationships with students and families.
A nine-year high
The 1,102 departures included 958 resignations and 144 retirements. That’s an increase of 412 departures from the 690 recorded in 2024-25.
The records show when each separation took effect, not when employees submitted notice or decided to leave. That makes it difficult to determine how many decisions followed the Texas Education Agency’s March 24 takeover or were instead connected to enrollment decline, campus closures, staffing reductions and ordinary career moves.
Since March 24, however, 942 of the 1,102 separations took effect, about 85%, including 814 resignations and 128 retirements.
In 2024-25, 552 of 690 separations occurred after March 24, about 80%.
Superintendent Peter Licata acknowledged that the takeover and instructional changes played a role in some educators’ decisions to leave the district.
“Yes, there is a total instructional shift, and that could scare some people,” he said.
Steven Poole, executive director of United Educators Association, said surrounding districts also recruited FWISD educators aggressively. But he said he believes employees watched the transformation of Houston ISD under state control and grew wary as Fort Worth introduced standardized lessons and reorganized schools and departments.
“They knew there was going to be a new administration and a new board, and changes were going to come,” Poole said. “There were opportunities all around us, so they started taking those opportunities left and right.”
Toni Templeton, a University of Houston researcher studying state takeovers and teacher workforces, called the timing a strong indication that the intervention contributed to the increase. But she cautioned against treating timing as proof.
“You have to separate the signal from the noise,” Templeton said.
FWISD’s enrollment was declining well before the takeover. Licata said the district had not completed a full staffing adjustment before he arrived and employed more teachers than its student population required.
“We had too many teachers considering the number of students we had,” he said.
Administrators planned to adjust staffing again after determining how many students arrived at each campus. Licata also said district leaders contacted some principals and other employees they wanted to retain, though some left for promotions, shorter commutes or other opportunities.
Some campuses lost more than others
The departures were not evenly distributed.
Arlington Heights and South Hills high schools each recorded 25 teacher resignations or retirements — the most among individual campuses.
Green B. Trimble Technical and Western Hills high schools each recorded 23, while Paschal High School recorded 21.
At M.H. Moore Elementary, 17 teachers resigned or retired, up from two the previous year.
Bradley O’Bannon was among those who left M.H. Moore.
O’Bannon began his career in FWISD and spent 10 years working in general education, behavioral programs and special education.
“My plan was to retire with Fort Worth ISD,” he said.
Instead, he accepted a position at Castleberry Elementary in neighboring Castleberry ISD. O’Bannon said he decided to leave after learning Karen Molinar would not continue as superintendent under the takeover. Concerns about staffing reductions, special education services and the direction of instruction reinforced his decision.
O’Bannon acknowledged that little changed in his own special education classroom after Licata and the board of managers arrived late in the school year. Much of his decision was based on what he believed was coming, including more tightly controlled lessons.
The number of departing teachers with at least 10 years in FWISD more than doubled, from 136 in 2024-25 to 279 in 2025-26.
Among resignations alone, the number of employees with at least a decade in the district more than tripled, from 54 to 166.
“For a teacher to leave one district with that much experience and go to others, that’s a big decision to make,” Poole said. “They’re invested in the community and invested in their schools.”
The loss extends beyond instruction, he said. Experienced educators know which students arrive hungry, which need help getting breakfast and which families need additional calls or encouragement to get children to school.
“When you lose that,” O’Bannon said, “the humankind is taken away.”
FWISD fills vacancies, but experience is harder to replace
The district responded with urgency, Licata said. Senior administrators attended recruiting events, and FWISD hosted job fairs throughout the summer. Elevate Network campuses — turnaround schools receiving more intensive intervention and resources — offered higher salaries and additional staff support.
Khristina Goady, principal of Jean McClung Middle School, said she entered August fully staffed after beginning each of the previous two school years with vacancies.
“There is a peace of mind knowing that all my teaching staff — we’re good to go,” Goady said.
Goady credited the district being nearly fully staffed to frequent job fairs, recruitment efforts and financial incentives. She urged families worried about turnover to visit their campuses and meet their children’s teachers.
“Come see,” she said.
At an Aug. 4 town hall hosted by state Rep. Nicole Collier, Licata estimated FWISD employed about 350 uncertified teachers. He said many were career and technical education instructors entering from industry or college graduates working toward certification.
The estimate did not establish how many were hired this summer or whether they replaced teachers who left.
Uncertified should not automatically be treated as unqualified, Templeton said. A teacher whose certificate expired, a first-year educator in a supported preparation program and someone who has never received formal training in how to teach present different circumstances.
To evaluate the workforce, she said, the district should disclose educators’ experience, certification status, preparation pathway, certification field and whether they are teachers of record or substitutes.
“When you change the people in the building, things change as an outcome,” Templeton said.
Even high-quality replacements cannot immediately recreate the culture of a campus with a stable staff, she said. New teachers also require monitoring and support, which becomes more difficult when large numbers of experienced colleagues leave at once.
“It’s hard to replace experience,” Poole said, agreeing with Templeton. “It’s continuity, stability in the community.”
Turnover reaches beyond classroom teachers
The losses extended beyond classroom teachers. Departures among selected support employees rose from 275 to 420.
Administrators intend to retain new and returning employees through frequent classroom visits and immediate coaching, Licata said. Principals are expected to identify teachers’ strengths, help them improve and return to determine whether the support worked.
“We are not blaming teachers,” Licata said.
Teachers will retain control over how they present lessons, even as the district standardizes curriculum, pacing, classroom routines and checks for understanding, he said.
“We’re not asking teachers to be robots,” he said. “We’re asking teachers to follow a pattern of great instructional practice.”
Licata also described the model as “very, very regimented.” Some teachers may find it difficult, he said, but the district will not abandon changes that leaders believe students need.
Dotson used the promises in his recruitment effort, he said. He told candidates that principals were being trained to work beside teachers rather than simply judge them.
“The autonomy is not taken away,” Dotson said. “Your delivery is everything.”
He entered the job fair still searching for someone willing to accept that offer — a prescribed instructional system, paired with a promise of support from the campus leader.
By the time the fair ended, the incoming principal said the position was filled.
Now, the job is to retain them, he said.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1.
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.
