What should educators expect? Texas teacher groups on Fort Worth ISD takeover
Teachers should expect a slow transition as the state intervenes in the Fort Worth school district, said a leader of a state educators’ association.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced Thursday that Texas is taking over the North Texas district. With that will come the installation of a superintendent, a state conservator and an appointed “board of managers” in place of the elected school board of trustees.
Other districts have been in the same situation before, including Houston currently. If history is any indicator, educators can expect that nothing will happen right away, said Shannon Holmes, the executive director of the Association of Texas Professional Educators. The group has more than 366 members who work in Fort Worth ISD.
“It’s going to take some time for this process to play out,” Holmes said. “For current staff and current students, it will be several months before they see any kinds of changes.”
Morath said he expects to name the newly-appointed superintendent and board in the spring, Current Superintendent Karen Molinar will be considered as a candidate, and the board members will be chosen from a pool of local community members who apply.
There’s also an appeal process in place for the district.
Applications to serve on the district’s board of managers are due Nov. 21. Feedback will be gathered at community meetings, and applicants will be evaluated over the next several months.
“For the staff, it’s going to business as usual, at least in the short term,” Holmes said
The long term impact? Time will tell how the takeover plays out, Holmes said.
“Obviously, some change is going to come to the district, and one of our jobs, as a statewide professional association representing public educators is to monitor, make sure that the agency is following the statute,” Holmes said. “Make sure that the newly appointed board is operating in a fashion that is also following the statute, and then support our members and public educators, just in general, as they have concerns or as different decisions are made.”
The Houston school district has seen improved STAAR scores since its 2023 state takeover, but there’s also been high turnover among teachers and principals, as well as accelerated enrollment declines.
“It’s always concerning anytime a locally elected body is taken over by the state,” Holmes said.
He raised concerns about a disconnect between the local community and their elected officials, and a lack of transparency in having appointees over voter-picked officials.
“Obviously, when it’s involving a school district and the education of children, you certainly want that community to have some local control over what’s going on in their local public schools,” Holmes said.
Clay Robison, a spokesperson for the Texas State Teachers Association, said school districts are generally “woefully underfunded” by the state.
The state approved billions in public schools funding, including dollars for teacher pay raises, when the Legislature met earlier this year. The group supported the funding, but more money is needed to adequately fund public education, Robison said.
He also criticized the use of state dollars to fund a private and homeschooled voucher program.
“Many school districts have budget deficits, and they’re not all being taken over by the state, so I’m not saying it’s all budgetary, but a lot of it is budgetary,” Robison said.
Teachers probably need to expect some adjustments after the takeover, Robison said. The group has about 330 members — teachers and support staff — from the Fort Worth school district, he said.
“We hope this works,” he said. “We hope that Fort Worth ISD comes out after the state takeover a better district than it is now, for the benefit of the kids and the taxpayers. We certainly hope so. But at this point, we don’t know.”
Staff writer Silas Allen contributed to this report.
This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 5:31 PM.
