Fort Worth schools superintendent will make $335K, serve until 2025 under new contract

Angélica Ramsey will officially start in the role of Fort Worth superintendent of schools Wednesday after signing a contract Tuesday night that trustees have been working on during special meetings over the last several weeks.

The new leader will make a base salary of $335,000 according to the 22-page contract, with opportunities to make an additional $25,000 per year for meeting goals set by the board.

Ramsey had a similar contract in the Midland school district, which had ousted its previous leader for failing to meet goals, and gave her a raise from from $275,000 to $310,000 in July for improving the district’s academic standing.

The contract runs through Aug. 31, 2025.

Former Superintendent Kent Scribner was supposed to serve until 2024 under his 2020 contract extension and Ramsey was slated to serve until 2025 in Midland before bowing out to take the Fort Worth job. Scribner was making a base salary of $330,000 in his 2020 contract.

Bryan Murry, Midland board president, said he anticipates she will be staying put in Fort Worth, however.

“I’m not sure that would be a problem for someone in Fort Worth to think that she’s going to jump from there just because we only got her for 18 months in Midland,” he told the Star-Telegram.

The new leader is entering the role as Fort Worth schools continues to grapple with achievement gaps and recovery from pandemic-era learning loss, as well as a steady onslaught of criticism from a vocal group of parents already calling for her to step down. She is asking for parents and the community to give her a chance.

The leader will also have various expenses paid for, including $1,000 a month for travel and $100 a month for technology, provisions standard in many such contracts.

Midland schools selected Chief Operating Officer Kellie Spencer as an acting superintendent at a board meeting Monday and selected the search firm Walsh Gallegos to assist with finding Ramsey’s replacement.

Trustee Camille Rodriguez said Fort Worth schools are entering an “exciting new chapter” with the contract being signed.

Ramsey said she would be visiting schools on her first day on the job Wednesday.

“That’s what I said I was gonna do, that’s how I lead and that’s how we’re starting to hear from our teachers to talk to our students to start having those conversations in an informal setting so that we can build trust so that we can have the ability to have those deeper conversations about what our community thinks we do really well and where our community thinks that we need to improve,” she said.

“There’s always room for improvement, and we’re on our way to being an A district.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2022 at 7:23 PM.