FWISD wants $1.5 billion to upgrade schools. Let’s talk learning, accountability first
In two weeks, early voting will begin on the biggest school bond proposal in Fort Worth ISD history.
The district is asking for a whopping $1.5 billion (in four separate bond proposals) to renovate middle schools, build a new elementary school in Benbrook and upgrade athletic, fine arts and recreational facilities throughout the district.
There really isn’t any argument over whether the renovations are needed.
But recognizing that the district has valid and compelling needs does not necessarily mean (literally) buying its proposed solution, especially when that solution comes with a high price tag and without its typical level of community input.
There are pressing questions voters should be asking: how this sizable chunk of change will be spent; the amount of public involvement in developing the proposal; and, perhaps most importantly, whether district leadership, which has struggled to retain public confidence and overseen chronic poor student achievement, can be relied upon to responsibly steward such a monumental project.
With regard to the bond’s size and scope, district spokeswoman Rebecca Slack pointed to a breakdown of costs for individual schools, ranging from about $19 million to about $70 million. New construction for the elementary school will be about $59 million.
And she strongly disagreed with the idea that there was less community input than usual, arguing that the long-range Facilities Master Plan committee (formed five years ago) held five public meetings between December 2019 and July 2021 to discuss a variety of district issues and needs.
But even members of the school board acknowledged that this proposal was developed with less public response than usual.
In August, when the school board voted to send the proposal to voters, trustee Anael Luebanos expressed concern. “We could have used more options,” he said. “We could have used more community input on this bond.”
Board president Tobi Jackson echoed the sentiment about the compressed timeline, adding: “We usually ask the community what they need, jointly agree and discuss, and then come in and vote. This is different.”
Given the size of the bond package, more input could hardly have been a bad thing, if only to give the impression that it would be considered.
But there are other reasons to question the appropriateness of the bond. For instance, the district’s student population is trending down.
FWISD has lost about 12,000 students since the 2016-17 school year. That’s nearly 14 percent in five years.
Some of that contraction is a result of the pandemic. Many parents have declined to register their pre-kindergarten and kindergarten-age children for school during COVID-19, despite the district’s effort to reassure about safety and promote enrollment.
But COVID doesn’t explain all of the decline.
By the district’s own admission, no small amount of attrition is due to students departing for private, charter and even homeschool, and that is undoubtedly the result of the district’s declining reputation and poor student outcomes that leadership just can’t seem to get a handle on.
Fort Worth ISD is rated last among the state’s 20 largest districts, with more than a quarter of its schools receiving a “D” or “F” rating from the Texas Education Agency in 2019.
Just 32 percent of third-graders read at the appropriate level. And these downward trends pre-date COVID-19, so pandemic learning loss cannot bear all the blame.
On the enrollment decline, Slack pointed to recent consolidation and decentralization in the central office and pyramid realignments to address population shifts but wasn’t more specific about the district’s growth projections in relation to the size of this bond.
As to concerns about student performance, Slack responded that “infrastructure is equity,” pointing to a Harvard University study about the importance of learning environments on academic outcomes.
That may be true, and no one is arguing that Fort Worth schools don’t need updates. But fresh paint and brighter hallways will not magically help middle schoolers do algebra or read at grade level. And if the majority-minority district truly has its eye on equity, improving student achievement should be its highest priority. Until then, everything else is literally window dressing.
It should go without saying that public schools need strong public support.
We all benefit from a public education system that prepares the next generation to work and live productively.
But supporting our district requires us to ask questions of the people in charge, not just rubber stamp their proposals. And it can sometimes mean saying “no” to district leadership until it can prove itself accountable.
