TEA’s Mike Morath visits Lake Worth ISD, weighs another takeover in Tarrant
Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath visited a second Tarrant County school district that’s at risk of a state takeover due to consecutive years of low academic performance.
Morath spoke with district leadership, observed classrooms and addressed the media on Tuesday at Lucyle Collins Middle School in the Lake Worth Independent School District as he weighs two different paths for state intervention. Morath could decide to either replace the Lake Worth ISD school board with an appointed board of managers or to close the district’s Miller Language Academy, which saw five consecutive years of failed A-F accountability ratings from the state and triggered the potential takeover as a result.
Morath on Thursday announced his decision on a course of action for the Fort Worth Independent School District. Morath will replace Fort Worth ISD’s board and interview candidates for the superintendent’s job, which will include current Superintendent Karen Molinar. Fort Worth ISD’s Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade campus received its fifth failed rating earlier this year after the release of 2023 ratings that were delayed due to a lawsuit. The district already closed the campus in 2023, though, making Fort Worth ISD’s situation a unique one.
Morath on Tuesday said a decision on Lake Worth ISD is coming “in a few months.” He announced his decision regarding Fort Worth about two months after visiting the district in late August.
When asked what Morath makes of two Tarrant County school districts being at risk of state takeovers, he called the overall situation unfortunate and noted that two school boards, “by acts of omission or commission, have allowed low expectations to take root deeply, broadly across their systems.”
“We don’t just grade on effort. You’ve got to deliver results for kids,” Morath said. “We pride ourselves on local control in Texas, but we also pride ourselves on our moral commitment to children, and this is where those two values are coming into conflict.”
In Lake Worth ISD, both Lucyle Collins and Miller Language Academy were F-rated schools in this year’s accountability ratings. Lucyle Collins received its second consecutive failure rating this year, while Miller Language Academy received its fifth straight F rating.
Both campuses have struggled on state tests known as the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR. At Lucyle Collins, only 26% of sixth-graders met grade level in reading on this year’s STAAR, while 52% failed the reading section of the test outright. At Miller Language Academy, 22% of third-graders scored on grade level in reading, while 49% failed the reading section.
But both schools also have challenges. About nine out of 10 of their students are economically disadvantaged, state records show. At Miller Language Academy, about 44% of students are English language learners.
Out of Lake Worth ISD’s six campuses, five received an F accountability rating this year. The district was issued an overall D rating. Its total enrollment is about 3,200 students.
On Tuesday, Morath observed an eighth-grade English class alongside district leadership and state colleagues, including state Rep. Charlie Geren, a Republican from Fort Worth. Morath interacted with students as they were discussing an ode, or a type of poem, that they took turns reading aloud.
After visiting various classrooms, Morath hosted a news conference in the campus library. He said he was looking at how the district is supporting teachers in their delivery of curriculum, noting that he “saw good examples and saw bad examples” of this.
“I saw evidence of significant practice, practice that will result in learning. I also saw evidence of significant challenges,” Morath said. “What has unfortunately been true in Lake Worth for a very long period of time is that the kids have access to schools that do have hardworking and loving adults, but they’re not consistently learning how to read, write, do math. They’re not consistently learning science or history.”
Lake Worth ISD is ‘moving in the right direction,’ superintendent says
The Lake Worth ISD school board convened for a regular meeting on Monday night and district leaders started the meeting by highlighting the wins of teachers, staff and students specifically from Miller Language Academy.
Superintendent Mark Ramirez then presented student data showing improvements in performance and shared the results of a districtwide teacher survey, which asked what led to the gains. The top three responses, he said, were accountability and monitoring systems, curricular consistency and intentional instruction, and mindset and culture shift.
“We’re definitely moving in the right direction as we look at instruction, as we look at student achievement, and as we look at focus for Lake Worth ISD,” said Ramirez, who was hired as the district’s new superintendent in May.
The school board has laid out goals moving forward that it hopes to achieve by June 2028, which include improving its overall A-F accountability rating from a D to a B or higher; increasing the percentage of third-graders meeting or mastering grade level in STAAR reading from 23% to 60%; and boosting the percentage of third-graders meeting or mastering grade level in STAAR math from 18% to 60%.
Sonedra Steel, a mother of four students who attend Miller Language Academy, told the Star-Telegram she was unaware of the district facing a potential state takeover. She called it “surprising” and said she hopes the school doesn’t close.
“I finally have them all in one spot,” Steel said of her children. “I enjoy the school. I enjoy the teachers. I enjoy the staff… I haven’t had any issues at all with the school. They always keep me updated with everything.”
School Board President Armando Velazquez told the Star-Telegram that Lake Worth ISD has been “laser-focused on improving student outcomes” since Superintendent Ramirez joined the district over the summer. This includes building an instructional framework that focuses on quality tier-one instruction, or the initial layer of instruction that all students receive, in addition to better alignment of professional learning communities of teachers sharing their expertise and stronger implementation of curriculum.
“We’ve owned our situation. We’ve owned up to it since the accountability ratings came out. This community cares about its schools, is committed to its schools,” Velazquez said. “We’re confident that at the end of the year, we’re going to have some very, very substantial gains all across the board for our students.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2025 at 3:59 PM.
