Keller school district considers split, prompting concerns from parents, officials
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Keller ISD controversy
Read our reporting on the possible plan to split Keller ISD into two districts.
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Keller school trustees are eyeing a possible plan to split the district in two, according to Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and council member Charlie Lauersdorf.
Lauersdorf, whose district includes the Keller schools, said Jan. 8 he was assured by a school board member that trustees were merely examining the possibility of a split at a special Jan. 16 meeting.
Lauersdorf declined to name the school board member, citing private aspects of the conversation. Before that conversation, Lauersdorf said no Keller school district officials had reached out to him or the city of Fort Worth.
The board didn’t want to disclose the plan publicly, because it is not going to make any decisions and members didn’t want to create a public outcry before discussing it, Lauersdorf said. Parents said in social media posts that they believe the new Alliance school district would be west of Denton Highway.
Keller is the fourth-largest school district in Tarrant County, with more than 34,000 students in Keller, Fort Worth, Colleyville, Haltom City, Hurst, North Richland Hills, Southlake, Watauga and Westlake; 27 of its 42 campuses are in Fort Worth.
“You would hope the school board would actually involve the city of Fort Worth, and say ‘This is what we’re thinking, nothing’s set in stone,” Lauersdorf said. “Apparently, it looks like Keller ISD’s strategy is a strategy of ambiguity, which I believe only works in our relationship with China.”
Lauersdorf added that the potential split raised questions about the impact on property taxes, school building maintenance, and feeder patterns for the large number of Keller school district students who reside in the city of Fort Worth.
“That’s what they need to be transparent about — like here’s what we’re thinking and here’s how it’s going to impact you,” he said. “That information just has to be put out there whether it’s good, bad, ugly or indifferent,” he said.
Parker said in a statement Wednesday that she learned of the split in a city meeting on Tuesday and had not heard from the school district or board members.
“Based on the information I’ve gathered since then, I do not support a move to split Keller ISD, which would impact countless students and families,” she said. “Ensuring every child has full access to a quality education should be the top priority for all decision makers. And like every decision regarding our kids and their education, it’s critical this discussion and process is given extremely careful thought.”
Every district school in Keller, Colleyville and Southlake received an “A” rating from the state in 2022, the most recent accountability scorecard, while only three Fort Worth campuses earned the highest mark.
A Travis County judge has blocked the Texas Education Agency from releasing its ratings the past two years after several school districts filed a lawsuit arguing the ratings system is invalid. The ratings are largely based on students’ performance on the annual STAAR test, or the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness.
Board president Charles Randklev and district officials did not return messages requesting details about the proposed plan. Keller Mayor Armin Mizani declined to comment until after trustees discuss the issue at the Jan. 16 meeting.
Parents are expressing their concerns about the possibility of dividing the district on social media.
A detailed post on the Keller ISD Families for Public Education Facebook page described a scenario that would involve creating two school districts, Alliance and Keller.
The Facebook post cautioned that there is a lot of speculation and more questions than answers and asked for comments and clarification from trustees.
Creating a new district would require an election with at least 25% turnout, according to the Texas Education Code. The school board can initiate the process by either adopting a resolution or submitting a petition containing the signatures of at least 10% of registered voters to the Tarrant County Commissioners Court.
If the commissioners court approves the new district, the Education Code stipulates that it creates the new district and appoints seven board members.
The law has traditionally been interpreted to mean that the election is required in both initiation methods, according to education lawyers consulted by the Star-Telegram.
But Keller ISD parent Laney Hawes of Fort Worth questions the election requirement. She has spoken with lawyers herself, and suspects the school board may attempt to find a loophole in the law to create the district without one.
“If you read the rest of the law, every time it talks about the stipulations and requirements for an election, it very specifically states that that applies to the petition route, but never once includes the resolution route,” she said.
The section of the Education Code that stipulates the election does not mention a resolution.
“Not later than the 30th day after the date the commissioners court receives a petition under this subchapter, the commissioners court shall hold a hearing on the validity of the petition,” the code reads. “If the commissioners court determines the petition is valid, each board of trustees shall order an election to be held on the same date in each district.”
But such legal nitpicking is not how the law should be interpreted, according to Stephen Dubner, a Lewisville-based attorney who represents school districts across Texas.
“You cannot look at one provision and say nothing else applies,” he said. “You have to read the way statutes are read together.”
He felt “pretty confident” in his analysis, and said he expects county commissioners to see it the same way. “If not, there’s chaos,” he said.
County Judge Tim O’Hare, Precinct 1 Commissioner Roderick Miles and Precinct 3 Commissioner Matt Krause did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Staff members for Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons and Precinct 4 Commissioner Manny Ramirez said they were unaware of the initiative to split Keller ISD into two.
Dubner said the school board and Commissioners Court could potentially try to create the district without holding an election, but said he expects such a move would be appealed.
Plano-based education lawyer Dennis J. Eichelbaum concurred with Dubner’s analysis, saying there is no case law or precedent for such a move. But he declined to make any predictions about how the code could be interpreted in this case.
“There is nothing outside the realm of possibility today,” he said. “Especially in Texas.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2025 at 3:29 PM.