As state takeover looms, FWISD chief says district will stay focused on learning
As Fort Worth Independent School District faces a state takeover, officials and teachers in the district remain focused on giving students the daily instruction they need, Superintendent Karen Molinar said Thursday.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced Thursday morning that he plans to take over the district, replacing its elected school board with a state-appointed board of managers. Morath hasn’t determined whether Molinar will keep her job.
The takeover comes after one campus in the district received a failure rating for five consecutive years. But Morath said Thursday that Fort Worth ISD’s challenges go beyond a single campus.
Molinar, who was named superintendent on a permanent basis in March, acknowledged that the district didn’t act fast enough to bring extra support to struggling campuses. She pointed to actions Fort Worth ISD has taken more recently, including placing seven low-performing schools under the state’s Resource Campus Model, a school turnaround strategy. Among other things, the model involves offering stipends to attract highly effective teachers to underperforming campuses.
“That should have been done years ago,” she said. “No campus should be five years or more unacceptable.”
Although the news of the takeover is already creating uncertainty, Molinar said she wants families to understand that everyone in the district is still committed to making sure their kids get the education they need. Even after the takeover, that will remain true, she said.
Morath said Thursday that he doesn’t yet know who he’ll designate as the district’s superintendent. He plans to review a slate of possible candidates, including Molinar, in a nationwide search, with plans to name the superintendent and the appointed board in the spring. Although he emphasized that he hasn’t made a decision, he said he’s been impressed by the steps Molinar has taken over the past few months.
Molinar said she’s confident she’s the right person to run the district. She noted that she’s spent decades working in a variety of roles in Fort Worth ISD, and that the reforms she’s put in place in her first few months on the job are already showing promise.
“I was born to be an educator,” she said. “That’s been my only profession, my only job.”
This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 2:34 PM.
