{"id":327540,"date":"2025-10-23T22:20:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T22:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/327540\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T22:20:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T22:20:25","slug":"fort-worth-parents-respond-to-state-takeover-with-dread-optimism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/327540\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth parents respond to state takeover with dread, optimism"},"content":{"rendered":"

News of the state\u2019s takeover of Fort Worth ISD<\/a> on Thursday prompted both an immediate outcry and cautious praise from parents and community members. <\/p>\n

Following the announcement, some said they spent the day trying to understand what this means for their children\u2019s schools, parsing statements by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath<\/a> and reaching out to fellow parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bottom line is this is going to be a big distraction,\u201d said Lupe Lynch, a mother of two in the district who opposes the takeover. \u201cWe\u2019re already seeing the confusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Karen Molinar<\/a> said some schools fielded questions from baffled parents asking whether their children should return to school Friday or if schools would be shut down. The answer: Schools are open, and in the immediate future, little will change. <\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is your school district,\u201d Molinar said at a news conference Thursday, speaking directly to families. \u201cThese are your schools, and I believe in Fort Worth education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Education<\/p>\n

As part of the takeover<\/a>, the state will remove the district\u2019s nine-member board of trustees and appoint a board of managers. Morath will launch a national search for a new superintendent. Molinar, who was named superintendent in March, is among those candidates.<\/p>\n

Fort Worth ISD \u2014 which has around 70,000 students, 85% of whom are considered economically disadvantaged \u2014 has faced the threat of a takeover for months after one of its campuses earned a failing rating for five consecutive years. <\/p>\n

District leaders and many in the community hoped to stave off the takeover, pointing to recent academic gains. In recent months, the district poured millions of dollars into literacy and math initiatives that placed more expert teachers in the classroom. <\/b>Fifty of the district\u2019s schools have moved up at least one letter grade, and the number of F-rated schools decreased from 31 to 11.<\/p>\n

Given those improvements, some parents said they were disappointed with Morath\u2019s decision and decried the loss of local control. <\/b>Opponents of state takeovers have assailed them as politically motivated efforts to wrestle control over education, particularly in districts that are predominantly Black and Hispanic and economically disadvantaged, such as Fort Worth ISD.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not entirely surprised, but I am horrified,\u201d said Keith Annis, a father of two whose children attend school in the district. \u201cI think this is going to be a disaster for all the schools in Fort Worth ISD.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Education<\/p>\n

Annis said he is particularly worried about the loss of excellent teachers, who could flee to area school districts with more independence. Thousands of teachers have left Houston ISD since the state took that district over in 2023 <\/a>and adopted numerous curriculum changes.<\/p>\n

Recent reports<\/a> that top schools in Houston ISD will transition to public-private partnerships are deeply unsettling, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is part of an ongoing effort to privatize our schools,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really unfortunate this is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

District trustees have not yet indicated whether they will appeal Morath\u2019s decision. In a statement, the board said it was disappointed and is \u201cexploring all available options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kristin Klade, a Lutheran minister who has two children in the district, said she would like Morath to lay out clear protocols for the takeover and markers the district must hit to regain control. So far, those guidelines have been too vague, she said. <\/p>\n

Morath said Thursday the district must have no multi-year failing campuses before it can return to elected trustee control. <\/p>\n

Klade said she and others are working to identify candidates interested in serving on the board of managers who understand the district and community. She said she hopes Morath will appoint Molinar, a longtime district administrator, as superintendent to provide a measure of local control. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very grieved by this,\u201d she said. \u201cOur prerogative now is to figure out how to best support our district in whatever way we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not all were unhappy with the decision. Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker acknowledged the takeover is causing confusion and trepidation in the community, but said in a statement it \u201chas the potential to be transformative.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024, Parker voiced dissatisfaction <\/a>with the state of the district and urged trustees to develop a plan to boost student achievement. <\/p>\n

\u201cFort Worth ISD has the opportunity to lead with courage to turn around our district and avoid state intervention,\u201d Parker said at the time. On Thursday, the mayor pledged to work with the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiteracy and education matter for all students,\u201d she said, \u201cregardless of zip code.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News of the state\u2019s takeover of Fort Worth ISD on Thursday prompted both an immediate outcry and cautious…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":327541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,407,7371,7372,80,358,8973,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-327540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-fort-worth","11":"tag-fortworth","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-texas-education-agency","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115425812854686175","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}