State rep, educators criticize state takeovers in Tarrant at town hall
State Sen. Taylor Rehmet, local education stakeholders and community members voiced their criticisms about state intervention of public schools in Tarrant County on Thursday night during a town hall.
About 100 people filled a meeting room at the Northpark YMCA in far north Fort Worth to hear what the local education system has experienced since a state-appointed Board of Managers and superintendent have taken over leadership of the Fort Worth Independent School District, in addition to Lake Worth ISD.
Panelists also discussed vouchers, state testing and career pathways before Rehmet took questions about the issues and topics currently shaping public education. The panel did not include anyone who supported the state takeover, and no one in attendance voiced support of the state intervention.
The event was hosted by Rehmet, a Democrat who recently won the open Senate District 9 seat that stretches across northern and western Tarrant County. Rehmet is in the midst of a campaign to hold on to his seat for a full, four-year term after winning a special election against Republican Leigh Wambsganss. Voters will decide in November on whether the union leader and mechanic stays in the seat ahead of the 2027 legislative session.
Rehmet opened the town hall by condemning the Texas Legislature’s approval of a $1 billion voucher-like program while failing to provide public school funding that’s kept up with inflation. The loss of local control to two Tarrant County school districts has also cut community members out of the conversation, he said.
“As a state senator, those are the kinds of decisions I’ll be fighting to change because it’s time we stop telling our public schools to do more with less,” Rehmet said. “For years, the decisions coming out of Austin have been moving us in the wrong direction. Teachers are stretched thin. Parents are worried about overcrowded classrooms and shrinking resources. Students are navigating a system that’s supposed to open doors for them, but too often, feels like it’s turning its back on them.”
Melondy Doddy-Muñoz, assistant director of operations at the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at TCU, moderated a panel discussion, which included President of AFT Texas Zeph Capo, Fort Worth Board of Trustees President Roxanne Martinez and Fort Worth ISD high school teacher Ale Checka.
Doddy-Muñoz asked panelists about the impact the state takeovers have had, calling the intervention “a coup on our public schools.”
Martinez, whose powers as president of the elected Board of Trustees were suspended with the state takeover, said parent voices and transparency from the district have been lost. She noted how the Board of Managers this week didn’t listen to calls from the community to pause the closure of the International Newcomer Academy — a campus that serves refugee and immigrant students — and halt additional staff cuts that included positions serving emergent bilingual students.
“I have, daily, still parents calling me with questions that [I] have no answers to. Transparency has been lost. I have no answers for them. Can’t get any answers for them,” Martinez said.
On Wednesday, Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Peter Licata issued a statement on the staff cuts and school closure, describing the changes as thoughtful decisions meant to improve outcomes for all students, including emergent bilingual students and students with disabilities.
“We recognize these changes are deeply personal for many families and staff. We have heard those concerns, and the district’s commitment is clear: the changes approved last night are not about reducing support for students. They are about using our resources more effectively so we can direct more support into classrooms and toward the students who need it most. No student will lose access to required services as a result of these changes,” Licata said.
During the town hall, Capo described Houston ISD’s ongoing takeover, which started in 2023, as a cautionary tale of what’s to come, including a drop in enrollment with families leaving the district. Houston ISD lost more than 13,000 students in the first two years of the takeover, according to a University of Houston study.
The district has also seen academic improvements in its A-F accountability ratings. It went from having 121 D- and F-rated schools to having 18 D-rated campuses and no failing campuses. In 2025, 44% of third-graders were reading on grade level in Houston ISD while 36% of third-graders in Fort Worth ISD met this metric. Statewide, 50% of third-graders were reading on grade level last year.
“I can make kids do better on a bubble test. That does not necessarily mean that they are learning more, that they’re able to critically think and read,” Capo said. “The biggest lesson that I think that we’ve learned, and I’ve had this conversation with colleagues in Austin and other places — if it comes down to a decision between a state takeover and one school, close the school. It’s not worth it to have to go through that.”
When a school receives five failed A-F accountability ratings in a row from the Texas Education Agency, state law requires the school to either close or for the school district to undergo a takeover through state-appointed leadership. This is what happened in Fort Worth and Lake Worth ISDs.
Checka took aim at local and state leaders for the amount of testing that she says takes away from instructional time, the erosion of teacher autonomy in classrooms and a scripted curriculum that she says contains incorrect information.
“What we are told over and over and over again as teachers is, it doesn’t matter if you’re incompetent and it doesn’t matter if you are successful. You will not be given permission to decide how the kids sit in your room,” Checka said, citing this as a reason why the district struggles to recruit teachers.
During the Q&A portion of the town hall, attendees asked Rehmet how to hold education leaders accountable. He underscored the importance of speaking out at board meetings and engaging with local officials, especially during election season. Rehmet also said he was interested in helping speakers who suggested forming coalitions or task forces among workforce leaders and educators who focus on college, career and military readiness for high schoolers, in addition to organizations and groups that might be working in silos.
Alex Montalvo, a Fort Worth ISD parent and a local community organizer as part of FWISD 4 All, told the Star-Telegram that the group has begun a TEA takeover hotline to help gather concerns from community members and coordinate communication. FWISD 4 All is also looking to create a community school board with a similar set-up to the People’s Commissioners Court.
“That is going to be able to elevate and highlight what are the problems that need to be solved, and also being able to activate that community,” Montalvo said. “We are in a moment where the government is not working for the people to help have a robust public education. So we have to start working together to figure out, how do we solve this?”
