Greg Abbott on possible Fort Worth ISD takeover: ‘I would expect good results’
A state takeover of the Fort Worth school district could yield positive results, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a June 11 interview.
The remarks come after Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath notified Fort Worth school district officials in May that the district is at risk of state intervention after Forest Oak 6th Grade Center received an F rating five times in a row in the state’s A-F accountability scores.
When a campus has five consecutive failure ratings, state law requires the education commissioner to either close the school or take over the entire district, replacing the school board with state appointees. The commissioner may also replace the superintendent but isn’t required to.
Forest Oak 6th Grade Center closed in 2024 after seeing enrollment drop and combined with Forest Oak Middle School, but the Fort Worth school district could still see state come in, like the Houston school district takeover that began in 2023.
It’s the state’s responsibility to make sure failing schools get turned around, Abbott told reporters. The state’s takeover of the Houston school district has been a “remarkable turnaround story” where “remarkable positive results” have been seen, he said.
“It gets out from under the legacy based personnel and decisions that have caused it to fail in the first place, allows a new decision-maker to be able to come in, who is going to be focused on results, not pacifying local interests,” Abbott said. “And that’s a hard job to do, but a very necessary job to do.
“So my point would be this. And that is, we’ve seen time and again that when there is a takeover, they lead to better results, and if this is what happens to Fort Worth ISD, I would expect good results to come from that also.”
Does Abbott support a state takeover?
Abbott didn’t go as far as saying whether he supports a state takeover in the Fort Worth school district.
“Where things stand right now, I don’t have the information to be able to answer that question,” Abbott said. “I’m just telling you what would happen, in my opinion, if they do make that decision.”
The governor expressed support for changing the state law requiring a state takeover after five years of failing A-F scores.
“Unfortunately, if I recall the law correctly, the state has to allow it to fail for five years in a row before we can step in and take action, and that should probably change, because that means, like ‘I see you continue to fail, keep failing and we’ll be right there,’” Abbott said.
The state’s preliminary 2023 A-F rating scores were released in April after being held up in court and are finalized in August. Fort Worth officials plan to appeal the F rating at Forest Oak 6th Grade Center.
Forest Oak 6th Grade Center’s closure has “no bearing on, and does not abrogate, the compulsory action the statute requires the commissioner to take,” Morath said in a letter to Fort Worth Superintendent Karen Molinar and school board President Roxanne Martinez.
The Houston school district has seen improving test scores since the state intervened, but there’s also been enrollment declines, teachers leaving the district and high turnover among principals.
Staff Writer Silas Allen contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 11, 2025 at 2:15 PM.
