So many Fort Worth kids are in bad schools. A new report details alarming inequalities

Sometimes, it takes a new evaluation of a well-known problem to really see its enormity.

Take a new report that breaks down Fort Worth-area schools’ achievement ratings by City Council district. It’s no surprise that students in more affluent areas have access to better schools, no matter the school district. But to see the disparities detailed across a city map, to take in the breathtaking scope of inequality, raises alarms anew about the futures of tens of thousands of Fort Worth children and the drag subpar education places on the entire city.

The report, which a nonprofit advocacy group created and recently presented to council members, uses state accountability ratings to map the vast differences in access to strong schools across the city. It shows that students along the outer edges of Fort Worth, often in high-performing school districts such as Northwest, are generally surrounded by high-achieving campuses. In the core of the city, they are much less prevalent.

Compare, for instance, council District 3 in west and far-southwest Fort Worth. Four out of 10 schools received an A or B rating from the state, according to the report by the Fort Worth Education Partnership. Just 27% were graded D or F. On the other side of town, council District 5 in the farthest east and northeast parts of the city, just 14% took top grades, while a staggering 82% of schools received D’s or F’s.

Again, no one should be shocked at the findings, least of all the representatives of areas with struggling schools. But the starkness of the report, and its timing, should shake us all into considering anew what it will take to fix it.

CITY COUNCIL ISSUES

It helps that the report comes at the conclusion of the city’s elections and as a greatly changed City Council gets to work. Candidates across the city (and the political spectrum) talked extensively about education in their campaigns, even though they can’t directly affect school policy.

As many have noted, six of nine council members (including the mayor) are new to their posts, and more have young children than their counterparts. More importantly, they understand that so many of their policy goals turn on a better educated workforce.

Want to attract more businesses to relocate? Companies scrutinize school ratings and make them a huge part of where to move.

Want more workers who are prepared for the jobs of the future? That requires good schools that offer students individualized paths to success.

Even flipping the city’s property tax base so that businesses, not homeowners, bear more of the burden, ultimately comes back to education. Making Fort Worth less of a “bedroom community,” as so many council candidates stressed, requires a well-educated workforce for companies to draw upon.

Of course, there are no quick fixes, no easy solutions. While the work is being done, competition and choice are vital to give families more options (and, yes, to place more pressure on schools to improve). The report included charter schools among its evaluation, and while their records are mixed, one takeaway is that charter chains should target these areas of need.

Choice in public schools is a fine option, too, though transportation is a stubborn problem. Kids need good schools where they live.

FORT WORTH ISD

Of course, the elephant in the room here is the Fort Worth ISD. While there are several districts that serve city residents, about half are in FWISD, where problems sometimes seem intractable. Fort Worth has struggled for years to get elementary students proficient in reading, and signs of progress are at best mixed.

The district serves some of Fort Worth’s neediest children, many of whom need help with hunger and after-school options. The challenges for teachers and administrators became evident in the pandemic, and district officials have noted the emotional and social toll that disruptions in school life, jobs and families took on FWISD kids. There must be a sense of urgency about catching up the lost learning, assessing children who’ve fallen behind and targeting resources toward them.

The district can’t do it alone. Families must be invested in education; parental involvement is a key metric of success. Here, the city can help by, for example, using facilities for after-school programs and maximizing the library system to provide resources. Extending strong broadband internet access is vital, too. The city and school district have collaborated, but the FWISD’s project needs to move faster.

The recent campaign season brought a ton of talk about needing to lift up all of Fort Worth to make the best future possible. The school inequities report couldn’t make it clearer where that effort is needed most.