Saying it was at fault, Lake Worth school board won’t fight TEA’s takeover
The Lake Worth school board voted unanimously Tuesday night to not appeal a decision by the Texas Education Agency to take over the struggling district.
Board members voted to not fight the TEA takeover and waived the school district’s ability to ask the State Office of Administrative Hearings to review Commissioner of Education Mike Morath’s decision to remove Superintendent Mark Ramirez and all current members of the school board.
Board president Tammy Thomas said trustees did not act fast enough to hire Ramirez as superintendent when the search began for the district’s new leader in September 2024, and they must be held accountable for doing so. Ramirez was not hired until May 2025.
“From my perspective, the fault that the district is in lies in the hands of this board,” Thomas said before the vote Tuesday night. “We were slow, very slow, in appointing a new superintendent while we had a school board election going on. Everyone is paying the price of the decisions that this board made, and now the board is going to be held accountable. I can only apologize for the board not doing our job.”
Thomas also said if the appeal process allowed her and fellow board members to convince the TEA to reconsider their decision to remove Ramirez from his post, then she would vote to appeal and “pack her bags for Austin in a heartbeat.” But that seems to be out of the question, she told attendees before the board’s vote.
Board member Mary Coker spoke in agreement with Thomas against appealing the takeover before the unanimous vote.
“After consulting with our district lawyers, it looks like, even if we feel it really won’t, it would just be a delay and a cost, and we feel like that money can be better spent on our students and on our lawyers.”
Morath announced in December that the TEA would be taking over Lake Worth school district after Marilyn Miller Language Academy received a fifth consecutive F rating by the state. That triggered a Texas law allowing Morath to name a replacement superintendent, appoint a board of managers to replace the school board, and a name conservator to oversee the takeover process.
Morath has already appointed Andrew Kim, a former superintendent who is a co-conservator of an El Paso-area school district, as Lake Worth ISD’s conservator, meaning he will be responsible for guiding improvement plans as the takeover process continues to unfold.
On Dec. 19, Lake Worth board members traveled to Austin for an “informal review” of the district. In that meeting the school district made their case against the takeover process by providing data and information that showed the district was making positive steps forward. But Morath still reaffirmed his decision to take the district over and name new leadership.
The TEA announced last month that Ramirez was not in consideration to keep his post, despite Morath initially saying he was a “big fan” of the work Ramirez has done in the district since he was hired in May 2025.
“If they had taken the steps to bring Dr. Ramirez in five years ago, I highly doubt we’d be having this conversation,” Morath said in a call with reporters following the takeover announcement.
Hundreds of Lake Worth parents and faculty were present for a community meeting held by the TEA on Jan. 14 at Lake Worth High School that allowed residents to ask questions about the takeover process. Dozens of speakers passionately defended Ramirez and suggested replacing him would be a mistake.
In the weeks following the TEA’s takeover , a number of parents also told the Star-Telegram they were not confident in a state takeover and were not sure it would lead to improved results.
Overall, schools in the Lake Worth district, which has about 3,300 students, have severely underperformed on STAAR exams. Only 22% of students across all grades and subjects met grade level on the most recent STAAR exams.
During Tuesday’s board meeting, Ramirez said 36% of students across all STAAR-tested grades and subjects are projected to score at the “meets” or “masters” levels, which indicates they are reading at or above grade level.
TEA is still accepting applications for its state-appointed board of managers until Jan. 31. Interviews will be conducted through March 2-13. The timeline is still uncertain regarding Morath’s appointment of a new superintendent.
This story was originally published January 20, 2026 at 9:19 PM.
