{"id":199561,"date":"2025-09-04T12:48:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T12:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/199561\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T12:48:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T12:48:18","slug":"did-a-state-takeover-improve-other-texas-schools-these-7-charts-give-insight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/199561\/","title":{"rendered":"Did a state takeover improve other Texas schools? These 7 charts give insight"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Jacob Sanchez, Fort Worth Report
September 3, 2025<\/p>\n

by Jacob Sanchez, Fort Worth Report
September 3, 2025<\/p>\n

Do takeovers of Texas public schools produce better academic results for students?<\/p>\n

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath\u2019s answer is yes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn every single intervention, the results were higher, or at least no worse after the board of managers was placed than before,\u201d Morath said during a recent tour of William James Middle School in Fort Worth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As Morath considers a takeover of the Fort Worth<\/a> and Lake Worth school districts<\/a>, student test results and other measures show how interventions in three Texas districts impacted academics, enrollment and graduation rates.<\/p>\n

Overall, state-run districts saw improvements in rates of all students passing on par with the uptick of the state\u2019s average.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A takeover does not necessarily mean instantaneous improvements in the classroom, said Jo Beth Jimerson, an education professor at Texas Christian University.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an action, but it doesn\u2019t tell us what the state is doing,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s never going to be a guarantee that the next set of people are inherently better than the last set.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Seventh grade students work on an assignment in a class at Fort Worth ISD\u2019s William James Middle School on Aug. 28, 2025. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)<\/p>\n

The following charts compare Fort Worth and Lake Worth to Houston, Shepherd and Marlin school districts, a trio of recent state takeovers. Houston\u2019s began in 2023, while Shepherd\u2019s started in 2019. Marlin started its return to local control in 2024 after an eight-year takeover.<\/p>\n

Texas law requires the state to close a failing public school after five straight years or to replace a district\u2019s elected board and superintendent with appointees by the state education commissioner.<\/p>\n

Houston ISD is the largest such takeover in Texas history<\/a> with more than 176,000 students enrolled.<\/p>\n

Fort Worth preemptively closed the school that received five straight F\u2019s<\/a>. Lake Worth\u2019s failing campus \u2014 Marilyn Miller Language Academy \u2014 is still open.<\/p>\n

A takeover of Fort Worth ISD, which has about 70,000 students, would mark the second largest in the state. Lake Worth ISD has about 3,200 students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shepherd and Marlin are small, rural districts. Fewer than 2,000 students attend Shepherd schools in southeast Texas, while 843 children are enrolled in Marlin ISD, which is near Waco.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single one of our state interventions has resulted in fairly immediate improvements in the quality of student learning,\u201d Morath said. \u201cNow that doesn\u2019t mean I can give you any guarantee \u2014 there is no guarantee in life. But we have a strong track record of success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Governing school districts is tricky, TCU\u2019s Jimerson said. With locally elected school trustees, community members have a clear mechanism to hold officials accountable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe honestly saw that quite clearly in Fort Worth,\u201d Jimerson said, referring to the district\u2019s leadership change following Mayor Mattie Parker calling out trustees for unacceptable schools<\/a>. \u201cIt was messy, but the community and voters exerted pressure and changes were made.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new superintendent came in and rolled out student-centered reforms<\/a> that leaders say are producing results<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With state control, however, local residents pushing for change won\u2019t find it as clear-cut, the professor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the accountability for the state actors running a local district? What does that look like?\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s an open question.\u201d<\/p>\n

!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}})}();<\/p>\n

!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}})}();<\/p>\n

!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}})}();<\/p>\n

!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}})}();<\/p>\n

\"How
\n\"How<\/p>\n

!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}})}();<\/p>\n

Jacob Sanchez is education editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org<\/a> or @_jacob_sanchez<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2025\/09\/03\/did-a-state-takeover-improve-other-texas-schools-these-7-charts-give-insight\/”>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&amp;quality=80&amp;ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/?republication-pixel=true&post=299499&amp;ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2025\/09\/03\/did-a-state-takeover-improve-other-texas-schools-these-7-charts-give-insight\/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/fortworthreport.org\/p.js”><\/script><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t