Fort Worth ISD’s special-needs cuts are alarming to parents | Opinion

I did not plan to become a regular at school board meetings. Like most parents, I trusted the system would do right by my child. That changed the day I sat in an individualized education program meeting for my daughter and was laughed at.

At that moment, something shifted. It was no longer just about my child. It became about every parent who has ever walked into a room, asked for help and been dismissed. I became a “power ambassador” with Parent Shield Fort Worth, helping other families navigate the system, because I needed to ensure no other parent experienced that kind of disrespect when advocating for their child’s education.

Since then, I have been paying close attention to what is happening in Fort Worth ISD. What I am seeing raises serious concerns.

Recently, I enrolled my daughter at an “A-rated” campus, believing that rating reflected the level of support and quality students would receive. Within two months, I made the heartbreaking decision to withdraw her. I watched my 6-year-old daughter, a first-grader at De Zavala Elementary School, struggle in a school system that was clearly overwhelmed and under-resourced.

She repeatedly left the classroom and school building, creating serious safety concerns, yet staff consistently shared they did not have the support or personnel needed to respond properly. Simple accommodations were not consistently implemented, and the emotional toll on my daughter became impossible to ignore as she began pulling out her hair and eating objects out of distress.

While her teachers cared deeply, they were stretched beyond capacity. If this is the reality inside an “A-rated” campus, we must ask ourselves what is happening to children across the district who need even greater support.

That concern becomes even greater when we consider decisions proposed by Superintendent Peter Licata and approved by the Board of Managers, including reducing special-education therapist positions and cutting emerging bilingual director and coordinator roles. These are not minor adjustments. These positions play a crucial role in ensuring students with the highest needs receive the support, advocacy and services necessary to succeed and feel included in our schools.

Let’s be honest about what is at stake. For years, parents of special-education students have fought for inclusion, for their children to learn alongside their peers with the right support in place. Reducing resources does not strengthen that vision. It weakens it. You cannot say you are prioritizing students while simultaneously removing the people and services designed to support them.

As a parent, I do not believe this right-sizing will lead to more consistent or higher quality support. I believe it risks doing the opposite.

But here is what I do believe in: the power of parents.

When parents remain actively engaged, everything shifts. When we enter rooms informed and prepared and lead with confidence, when we understand the language being used and ask stronger, more meaningful questions, we are no longer silent or overlooked. Most importantly, we can advocate not only for our own children, but for every child.

That is why I continue to show up.

I show up because I know there are parents who cannot yet. I show up because there are children depending on adults to get this right. I show up because a high quality education is not a privilege. It is a right.

As Fort Worth ISD moves through this period of intervention and change, my hope is simple but urgent: that no child gets left behind.

I am speaking as a special needs parent, but this applies to all children, especially Black and brown students, who too often bear the brunt of schools’ declining outcomes. We cannot afford to see another drop in performance. We cannot accept systems that promise equity but fail to deliver it.

Our children deserve more than promises. They deserve action. They deserve resources. They deserve respect.

Until that becomes the reality for every child in this district, I and many other parents will keep showing up.

Ashley Tolliver is the parent of a Fort Worth ISD child. She wrote this piece in conjunction with Parent Shield Fort Worth, a parent-led advocacy and empowerment organization that educates parents and guardians on issues and rights regarding their children’s education.