‘Unacceptable’: Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker calls for Keller ISD election on any split
While there are still many unanswered questions about the Keller school board’s possible plan to split the district, one thing is clear to Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker: The district’s residents should have the final say.
“This is a major decision that will impact thousands of families, and the way it is rolling out is unacceptable,” she said in a Friday statement posted on X, the day after dozens of residents lambasted the Keller school board during a heated meeting.
Parker said she still had yet to be contacted by the school district’s leadership but was speaking to experts and doing her own research about the process to break up a school district.
Texas law offers two options to split a district: one is by having 10% of voters in the school district sign a petition and the other is for the school board to pass a resolution.
What’s unclear is whether an election is required if the school board passes a resolution. Tarrant County commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez have offered contradictory answers in separate statements.
Parker said it’s abundantly clear that Keller school district residents deserve an election.
She referenced a Jan. 7 visit to Lone Star Elementary School, which is in far north Fort Worth near the intersection of Shiver Road and Trace Ridge Parkway.
“This is one of the schools that a split of Keller ISD would impact, and I feel so deeply for the families who learned the very next day that they might be removed from the district they call home,” Parker said.
She called on the school board to lead with transparency and prioritize what’s best for every student in the district moving forward.
Parker’s statement follows the contentious school board meeting where an overwhelming majority of speakers opposed any plan to break up the district.
Parents raised questions about how the district would be split, how it would be funded while also expressing anger at the lack of transparency from the district.
Board president Charles Randklev said at the meeting that the community and committees would study the proposal before any formal decisions are made.
This story was originally published January 17, 2025 at 12:34 PM.
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