New parents group pushes back on possible Texas state takeover of Fort Worth ISD
Parents and education advocates in Fort Worth are launching a new organization aimed at pushing back against the possible state takeover of the Fort Worth Independent School District.
Fort Worth ISD faces a possible state takeover after persistent poor performance at one of its campuses. But some parents worry state intervention could derail what they hope are the first signs of academic progress in the district.
The organization, called Families Organized Resisting Takeover, or FORT, launched Tuesday. Zach Leonard, a parent at North Hi Mount Elementary School and one of the group’s organizers, said the organization will be conducting a letter-writing campaign to Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, as well as local leaders like Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and lawmakers who represent parts of the district, making the case against a state takeover. Although the final decision lies solely with Morath, Leonard said he hopes other leaders could influence the commissioner’s thinking.
Fort Worth ISD faces the possibility of a state takeover because one of its campuses, the Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade, received its fifth consecutive failure rating in the state’s 2023 A-F scores. TEA released those ratings last spring after a two-year legal battle. The district closed Forest Oak Sixth and merged it with the nearby Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Middle School in 2023.
When a campus receives five consecutive failure ratings, state law requires the education commissioner either to shut that campus down, or take over the entire district, replacing its elected school board with a state-appointed board of managers. The commissioner may also replace the superintendent as a part of that process, but he isn’t required to do so.
This year’s A-F ratings, which were released last week, brought good news for Fort Worth ISD. The district has about a third as many F-rated campuses this year as it did last year, and 63 campuses gained a letter grade.
But challenges persist, even at some of the district’s top-rated schools. At Christine C. Moss Elementary School, an A-rated campus, just a third of third-graders scored on grade level in reading on this year’s STAAR exam. The ratings take into account both a school’s on-grade-level performance and its student progress. That means a school could get high marks if large numbers of students make great strides from one year to the next, but still fall short of grade level.
During a news conference Friday in Dallas, Morath acknowledged that Fort Worth ISD is making progress. But the district has “significant challenges” that go beyond a single campus, he said. Morath is expected to visit some Fort Worth ISD schools next month and announce his decision sometime this fall.
Leonard said he worries that a state takeover could derail the district’s progress before it has a chance to take hold. Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Karen Molinar has been in the district’s top job for less than a year, and most of her strategies have only been in place for a few months.
Among other things, Molinar has redesigned about 150 district-level staff positions, converting them from instructional coaches who worked exclusively with teachers to demonstration teachers. Those teachers spend half their day working directly with their own students and the other half helping other teachers in their buildings, either by offering mentoring and coaching or pulling small groups of students aside for extra help. State education officials should at least allow time for those plans to bear fruit before taking drastic steps, Leonard said.
Once Morath announces a decision — no matter what that decision is — the group will transition into a second phase, called Working to Organize Resources for Teaching and Hope, or WORTH. In that iteration, the group will partner with teachers, business leaders and members of the clergy to support literacy instruction in the district, Leonard said.
This story was originally published August 19, 2025 at 1:03 PM.
