Fort Worth ISD community members grilled a Texas Education Agency official Thursday night, demanding answers on how the looming state takeover would impact student curriculum, staffing and leadership.
In the Fort Worth ISD Administration Building, TEA Deputy Commissioner for Governance Steve Lecholop stood at a podium and presented a slideshow broadcast on televisions throughout the room. Lecholop cited charts, maps and graphs to explain why the state thought the intervention was necessary.
Jeremiah Taylor, 15, a student at the Young Men’s Leadership Academy, speaks in favor of the state takeover as Steve Lecholop, Texas Education Agency Deputy Commissioner for Governance, answers community questions at the Fort Worth ISD Administration Building in Fort Worth on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. “You shouldn’t be be worried about TEA,” Taylor said, “You should be worried about your kids who have been failing for 5 years.”
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
TEA announced plans to take over Fort Worth ISD on Oct. 23, after one of its campuses received a failing grade for five consecutive years. In what will be the second-largest state takeover in Texas history, Education Commissioner Mike Morath will replace the elected school trustees with a temporary board of managers. He will also appoint a superintendent.
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“The struggles in Fort Worth ISD are not confined to one small area or one geography in the district. You see that this is a widespread problem in this district,” Lecholop said. As he spoke, a map dotted with Ds and Fs, representing schools that received failing grades, flashed on screen.
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The state’s decision has sparked outcry in the community, and the tension was felt in the room, where parents, teachers and alumni packed the audience. By the time Lecholop reached the end of his slideshow, a procession of people had lined up to speak at the microphone to express their concerns.
Fort Worth ISD parents and teachers pointed to Houston ISD, where the state assumed control in 2023. Houston ISD has experienced boosts in its standardized testing scores and Texas A-F accountability grades.
Edriana Cofer, an English I teacher at Dunbar High School, asks Steve Lecholop, Texas Education Agency Deputy Commissioner for Governance, if the curriculum is expected to remain the same under the state takeover during a meeting at the Fort Worth ISD Administration Building in Fort Worth on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
Houston ISD community members have condemned the intervention and raised concerns about the inflexibility of the curriculum, which they say is geared toward test preparation and includes scripted lesson plans. Some Fort Worth ISD teachers said they worried those learning materials would be mirrored on their campuses.
“It’s very difficult for me to be able to work in a place where I can’t teach as I know best,” said Ale Checka, a Fort Worth ISD teacher.
Checka noted the “level of anxiety and fear,” among Fort Worth ISD teachers. And several people questioned how the state would retain Fort Worth ISD teachers.
Houston ISD also has seen a sharp jump in the number of teachers leaving the district, since its takeover. In 2024-25, Houston ISD saw a teacher turnover rate of 32.2 percent, compared with the statewide average of 18.8 percent, The Houston Chronicle reported.
Lecholop said the district would engage with Fort Worth teachers on the Teacher Incentive Allotment, a program that rewards high-performing teachers.
“The superintendent, in collaboration with the board, will be making all decisions about HR allocation,” he said.
Fort Worth ISD community members also questioned TEA about its process to select new leadership. TEA last week named Christopher Ruszkowski as conservator of Fort Worth ISD, giving him the authority to will manage principals and superintendent, attend board meetings and report back to the state on how the district is faring.
TEA is also looking to appoint a board of managers, who will govern the district, and opened applications through Nov. 21. Fort Worth ISD parents called upon the state to choose wisely, expressing anxiety over having representatives who weren’t democratically elected.
Kelly Moreno asks Steve Lecholop, Texas Education Agency Deputy Commissioner for Governance, whether the appointed board of managers will revisit previous decisions made by the school district as her sons, students at De Zavala Elementary School, Felix, 7, and Leon, 5, stand behind her at the Fort Worth ISD Administration Building in Fort Worth on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. De Zavala Elementary, an A rated school, is scheduled to close in June 2027.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
Graham Brizendine, a parent, asked Lecholop if the managers would be required to have addresses in the district. Residents are “the people who have the largest stake” and would commit to local interests, he said.
In response, Lecholop said no, as it would allow “a great applicant who happens to live on the wrong side” to apply.
“Because they won’t make that commitment, it puts a bad taste in my mouth,” Brizendine said. “It almost feels like taxation without representation.”
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School officials have also pushed back on the state takeover. Fort Worth ISD trustees are considering appealing the decision, arguing that local governance is essential to student success.
“We do so not in defiance, but in defense of our students, our community, and the principles of local governance that ensure accountability to the people we serve,” Board of Education President Roxanne Martinez said in a statement.
Despite the lingering uncertainty from the state takeover, Fort Worth ISD community members noted the sense of camaraderie in the room.
Keith Annis, a parent with two students who attend Fort Worth ISD, rates answers given by Steve Lecholop, Texas Education Agency Deputy Commissioner for Governance, as he answers community questions at the FWISD Administration Building in Fort Worth on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
When Ale Checka took to the microphone, she glanced around the room, and saw faces she knew: her top engineering student, parents of her students, and colleagues.
“Whatever happens with TEA — y’all, we’ve got each other,” Checka said.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.