Fort Worth ISD will report nine educators to the Texas Education Agency for quitting after the district’s resignation deadline — a move that could put their teaching certificates at risk.
The state-appointed board of managers approved the action 7-1 Tuesday, with Secretary Rosa Maria Berdeja, who participated virtually, casting the only dissenting vote and Bobby Ahdieh absent.
Superintendent Peter Licata said 45 certified employees asked FWISD to release them from their contracts after the June 26 deadline. The district approved 36 requests, while the remaining nine either did not provide enough documentation to justify their departures or did not respond when administrators reached out, he said.
“We want people to be happy where they are,” Licata said. “But when you make a commitment, you make a commitment to teach children.”
Texas educators generally can resign without penalty up to 45 days before the first day of instruction. After that, districts can agree to release them or report them to the State Board for Educator Certification for contract abandonment.
The state then determines whether an educator had good cause or other circumstances that justify leaving. Depending on when an educator resigned, a contract-abandonment finding can result in a reprimand or suspension of an educator certificate.
What counts as ‘good cause’ for leaving a teaching contract?
The State Board for Educator Certification may consider four circumstances as good cause for contract abandonment:
- Serious illness or health condition of the educator or a close family member, supported by documentation from a licensed medical provider.
- Relocation because a spouse or live-in partner changes employers or work location, supported by documentation.
- A significant change in family needs that requires the educator to relocate or stop working during the contract period.
- A reasonable belief that the educator had written permission from the school district administration to resign.
Those are separate from “mitigating factors” — other circumstances SBEC can consider when deciding whether to reduce or impose no discipline.
Several Fort Worth-area districts have used the process in recent years, including Crowley, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, Everman, Lake Worth, Northwest and White Settlement. Northwest and Crowley have pursued multiple cases, according to board documents.
But Steven Poole, executive director of United Educators Association, said he does not remember Fort Worth ISD doing so during his 26 years working with area educators.
“This is a big shift in Fort Worth ISD,” Poole said.
Manager Laurie George, a former educator, said she initially misunderstood what the district was asking the board to do but came away from the closed-session discussion supporting the recommendation. Teachers should be treated as professionals, she said. She emphasized that managers reviewed each employee’s circumstances individually.
“We want teachers to be there. We want you to be there,” George said. Employees who needed to stay home with their children or step away because of a mental health crisis were not the people the district was seeking to report, she said.
Poole said some late resignation requests did involve medical issues, which the district has taken into consideration. Others came from employees who felt overwhelmed by the changes under the state takeover, he said.
Teachers returned July 30.
“A lot of teachers didn’t really fully understand, and the district didn’t explain what’s expected of them until they reported back July 30,” Poole said. “So they realized real quickly it may not be for them.”
Berdeja made a similar argument before casting her vote.
She said educators should honor their commitments, but the district is operating under unusual circumstances after the state takeover brought significant changes in a matter of months.
“I just don’t believe that this situation is the time to do it,” Berdeja said.
Sanctions, she said, should be reserved for misconduct or truly egregious contract abandonment, rather than educators who leave during a period of “extraordinary” organizational change.
Her dissent drew applause and a cheer from audience members.
The managers have disagreed on procedural questions before. In May, they split 6-3 over whether to delay the renaming of César Chávez Elementary but ultimately voted unanimously to rename the campus Esperanza Elementary.
Berdeja’s vote is the first dissent on a final substantive action since the managers took control in March.
Poole said United Educators Association is still receiving more inquiries than usual from FWISD employees considering leaving, including employees reporting medical-related stress and mental health concerns.
He expects the issue could return to the board.
“My guess is that the Fort Worth ISD board of managers may have to consider more,” Poole said.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1.
Disclosure: FWISD manager Pete Geren leads the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. FWISD manager Laurie George is a member of the Report’s reader advisory council. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org/2026/08/12/fwisd-reported-9-educators-for-contract-abandonment-what-does-that-mean/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report</a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”>
<img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https://fortworthreport.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=726169&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https://fortworthreport.org/2026/08/12/fwisd-reported-9-educators-for-contract-abandonment-what-does-that-mean/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } </script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”//cdn.parsely.com/keys/fortworthreport.org/p.js”></script>