The Texas Education Agency will take over the Fort Worth Independent School District, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced Thursday morning.
The move means that Fort Worth ISD’s elected school board will be removed and replaced with a slate of state appointees. Morath also plans to appoint a state conservator to oversee turnaround plans at low-performing campuses.
It’s unknown whether Superintendent Karen Molinar will remain in place. In an enforcement letter to the district dated Thursday morning, Morath said he plans to review prospective candidates before appointing a superintendent. Molinar will be one of the candidates included in that review, he said.
“I do not make this decision lightly,” Morath wrote. “As a former elected school board member myself, I understand the importance and impact local school board members can have on the quality of schools in their districts. Ultimately, the Fort Worth ISD school board has, collectively, through action and inaction over many years, failed the students of Fort Worth ISD. The inability of the district to implement effective changes to improve the performance of students in the district or at the campus necessitates the interventions announced by this letter. Furthermore, the interventions are in the public interest as the failure of governance is demonstrated by the continual academic deficiencies at the campus and across the district.”
In a statement responding to Morath’s announcement, the school board said, “The Fort Worth ISD Board of Trustees acknowledges the Texas Education Agency Commissioner’s decision regarding the District’s governance. While the Board respects the Commissioner’s commitment to student success and accountability, it is disappointed by the decision and hopes the matter will be reconsidered. The Board firmly believes that local, elected leadership is best positioned to sustain Fort Worth ISD’s progress and continue improving outcomes for every student in the district.”
“Over the past year, our Board and Administration have worked tirelessly to strengthen instruction and accelerate student outcomes,” Board President Roxanne Martinez said. “Our elected Board is in the best position to drive the sustainable improvements the Commissioner seeks, with measurable progress already underway. We respectfully ask him to reconsider his decision as we continue partnering with families, educators, and state leaders to keep this momentum going for every Fort Worth ISD student.”
The timeline for the takeover includes an opportunity for the district to appeal, according to Morath’s letter.
“The timeline for the district to engage in the appeals processes allowed under the Texas Education Code … begins as of the date of this letter,” he wrote. “I will appoint members of the board of managers, the conservator, and the superintendent as permitted by law after appropriate appeals processes have concluded.”
The school board said it is “exploring all available options” in response to the commissioner’s decision.
Five F ratings lead to state takeover in FWISD
The takeover comes after a single campus in the district received five straight failing grades in the state’s A-F accountability ratings. When a campus receives five consecutive failure ratings, a Texas state law passed in 2015 requires the state education commissioner to do one of two things: Order the district to close that campus, or take over the entire district, replacing its elected school board with a state-appointed board of managers.
Fort Worth ISD’s Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade Center received its fifth consecutive F rating earlier this year, when the state released its ratings for 2023. Those ratings were tied up in a court battle for two years. The district has since closed Forest Oak Sixth and merged it with Forest Oak Middle School.
Although Forest Oak Sixth’s performance was the factor that triggered the takeover, Morath has noted that many campuses in Fort Worth ISD are struggling. During a visit to the district in August, he said that any takeover would be laser-focused on ensuring that every student has a safe place to go to school with caring adults who deliver high-quality instruction.
TEA takeover of Houston ISD led to gains, workforce challenges
Fort Worth ISD isn’t the first big urban school district in the state to come under state intervention. TEA took over Houston ISD, the state’s largest school district, in 2023 after a single campus received five straight F ratings.
Fort Worth Independent School District Superintendent Karen Calvert Molinar, right, talks with others while Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, back left, visits William James Middle School on Aug. 28, 2025. Amanda McCoy amccoy@star-telegram.com
The results in Houston have been something of a mixed bag. Since the takeover, the district’s STAAR scores have improved dramatically. As of this year, Houston ISD has no F-rated campuses. But the district has also seen high turnover among teachers and principals, and enrollment declines have accelerated.
During a webinar Wednesday organized by the Houston Chronicle, Morath said increased teacher turnover isn’t necessarily a bad sign. If the teachers leaving the district are mostly ineffective, and they’re largely being replaced by higher-quality educators, it could be a net gain for the district, he said.
“It entirely depends on the nature of the staff that are leaving,” he said.
Rachel White, a professor in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Austin, said she thinks it’s premature to hold Houston ISD up as an example of the good that can come from a state takeover. It’s true that the state intervention there led to gains on the STAAR, she said, but it’s too early to say how it will affect longer-term success metrics, like the district’s high school dropout rate or the percentage of students graduating ready for college, a career or the military.
But over time, White said, state intervention can lead to detrimental results, including instability in the teacher workforce like what Houston ISD has experienced. A takeover can also damage the trust that communities place in their school leadership, she said.
Rather than taking over districts outright, White said she’d prefer to see TEA work alongside local leaders to fix the problems that are causing schools to struggle. She worries that a takeover, and the heightened emphasis on test scores that comes with it, doesn’t take into account the needs of communities, or the complexities of educating children.
“Learning to read and write is a really important part of it,” White said. “But in what ways does a strong emphasis on improving test scores impact their love for learning, their long-term desire to be an avid reader and to contribute to their communities?”
Morath also is considering a potential takeover of a second Tarrant County school district, Lake Worth ISD, which he visited on Tuesday of this week.
This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 8:53 AM.
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Silas Allen
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Silas Allen is an education reporter focusing on challenges and possible solutions in Fort Worth’s school system. Allen is a graduate of the University of Missouri. Before coming to the Star-Telegram, he covered education and other topics at newspapers in Stillwater and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He also served as the news editor of the Dallas Observer, where he wrote about K-12 and higher education. He was born and raised in southeast Missouri.
