FWISD can’t chalk up bond losses to luck or timing. It’s about failing the children
It is not quite accurate to call the 42-vote margin by which the Fort Worth ISD appears to have won its bond proposal to upgrade aging middle schools a total rebuke of its leadership.
But the words “embarrassment” and “wake-up call” come to mind, especially considering that the proposal was the only one of four on the ballot to pass, and then just barely.
The three that failed would have upgraded fine arts facilities, built new stadiums and field houses and improved on-campus athletic facilities. The margins on those losses weren’t even close.
A little Monday morning quarterbacking makes it easy to see how the district’s rushed timeline and lack of community input and buy-in (which I pointed out last month) undoubtedly contributed to the dearth of voter support.
And asking for a record $1.5 billion from taxpayers at a time when people are really starting to feel the financial crunch of inflation and other economic fallout from the pandemic was a massive miscalculation, particularly given the broader lackluster campaign effort.
But those excuses are far too generous because it’s clear there’s a lot more to this loss than bad marketing and poor logistics.
People are starting to pay much closer attention to what is happening in our public schools, and in many cases, they are appalled by what they are finding.
That was certainly the national backdrop for this election cycle, in which education issues played a surprisingly outsize role.
It was most prominent in Virginia, where concerns over “critical race theory” and efforts by elected officials to limit parental input in public school curricula led to conservatives sweeping the state’s top three offices.
In Southlake, which was for a short time the epicenter of the battle over racially charged pedagogy, voters elected a school board candidate who campaigned against the district’s controversial Cultural Competence Action Plan.
In Fort Worth, the election did not hang on curriculum content. But voters were clearly voicing their opinions about district competency and accountability — namely, that both are lacking.
Fort Worth middle schools need upgrades; no one who is serious has argued otherwise.
But trust in the district’s ability to responsibly steward funds (which it has arguably done well in the past) is now so low that voters came very close to leaving school buildings crumbling.
That speaks volumes about public faith in the district’s ability to do more basic things, like actually educating our children.
It bears repeating that among comparable districts in the state, FWISD brings up the rear. The vast majority of students can’t read or do math at grade level.
It’s a majority-minority district whose leaders like to talk about equity. But it’s hard to think of anything less equitable than failing to give most minority students the skills they need to succeed in higher education and the workforce.
It is not surprising that district enrollment is dramatically down even as the city’s population continues to surge. Parents who can find education alternatives for their kids are doing so. But most parents don’t have that luxury, and the district continues to fail them. No one has held leadership accountable, perhaps until now.
School bond proposals in Fort Worth, even large ones during off-year election cycles, generally pass without much opposition or difficulty. That’s because, by-and-large, voters recognize that we all benefit from public schools that are adequately funded with facilities that meet the current needs of a diverse student body.
The thin, almost half-hearted bond outreach effort suggested a sort of arrogant confidence on the part of district leadership, who assumed that voters would overwhelmingly do as they have in the past and rubber stamp whatever proposal the district put forth.
Worse than the district’s overconfidence is its detachment from parent and voter sentiment, which is very clearly and justly unhappy with poor student outcomes.
It should not take a close election for district leaders to recognize these failures.
But maybe this embarrassment will be a much-needed catalyst for change.
