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The Fort Worth ISD school board meets at 7060 Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth, on April 28 2026.<\/p>\n
Steve Hamm\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Nearly 800 teachers in Fort Worth ISD submitted their resignations in the three months after the arrival<\/a> of the district\u2019s state-appointed leadership \u2014 more than in the entire previous school year.<\/p>\n The second-largest district in North Texas is under a state takeover<\/a> after more than a decade of stagnant academic progress. When incoming Superintendent Peter Licata arrived in the district in March<\/a>, he pledged that the takeover would mean good things for \u201cexcellent teachers,\u201d including better pay, dynamic leadership and the opportunity to be a part of meaningful efforts to turn struggling schools around.<\/p>\n But since then, Fort Worth ISD has seen a sharp surge in the number of teachers leaving the district, records show. Departing teachers cited chaotic leadership, intense micromanagement and difficult working conditions as factors in their decision to leave.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Fort Worth ISD teachers hit the exits after takeover<\/p>\n Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced a takeover of Fort Worth ISD<\/a> last year after one campus received five consecutive F ratings. By the end of the school year, the district had seen a marked uptick in teacher departures. Fort Worth ISD received 1,026 resignations from teachers by June 28, which was the district\u2019s deadline for employees to resign, according to district data released in response to a Dallas Morning News public records request. That\u2019s up from 648 teacher resignations by last year\u2019s deadline, an increase of roughly 58%.<\/p>\n But the surge in teacher resignations didn\u2019t begin in earnest until after TEA officials announced the district\u2019s new board and superintendent, data suggest. Before March 24, when Licata and the district\u2019s state-appointed board took control, Fort Worth ISD had received just 7% more teacher resignations than the previous year. But after that point, teacher resignations jumped by about 84% compared with the same period last year. The district processed 149 more teacher resignations between March 24 and the resignation deadline than it did in the entire 2024-25 school year, records show.<\/p>\n Related<\/strong>: State takeovers are coming for Tarrant County schools. This decade-old law is why<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In a statement, Fort Worth ISD leaders noted that the resignations come as the district is in the midst of a transformational period.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring periods of organizational change, it is not uncommon for employees to make personal and professional decisions about their future,\u201d officials said. \u201cThis year, those decisions have occurred alongside school consolidations, program changes, and our continued efforts to align resources with the needs of our students.\u201d<\/p>\n Officials expressed gratitude for the work teachers did to contribute to academic progress last year, as well as confidence in the team the district has assembled for the upcoming school year.<\/p>\n Fort Worth teacher exodus mirrors Houston ISD takeover<\/p>\n Fort Worth ISD isn\u2019t the first district to see an exodus of teachers after the beginning of a state takeover. In Houston ISD, where a state takeover began in June 2023, nearly a third of teachers who taught during the 2023-24 school year didn\u2019t return the following year,<\/a> the Houston Chronicle reported. The district\u2019s teacher turnover rate that year was roughly twice that of the state as a whole.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The number of uncredentialed teachers working in Houston ISD<\/a> also ballooned after the takeover, according to an analysis by researchers at the University of Houston. In a report released in January, researchers wrote that the number of uncertified teachers working in the district climbed tenfold the year after the takeover began, increasing from 106 in 2022-23 to 1,096 in 2023-24. That number nearly doubled the next year, climbing to 2,122 in 2024-25.<\/p>\n That growth in uncertified teachers in the state\u2019s biggest school district comes as state lawmakers are trying to crack down on districts hiring educators with no credentials. During last year\u2019s legislative session, lawmakers, worried about the academic impact of having large numbers of untrained educators teaching Texas students, set a hard deadline for all teachers to be certified by the 2029-30 school year.<\/p>\n Steven Poole, executive director of United Educators Association, said other Tarrant County school districts have been aggressively recruiting teachers looking to leave Fort Worth ISD. For example, Birdville ISD pushed its annual job fair up by a few months to attract teachers who were looking for other options, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related<\/strong>: See which Texas school districts are under TEA control and which are at risk<\/a><\/p>\n Even before the takeover was announced, teachers in Fort Worth ISD were concerned about losing autonomy in the classroom, Poole said. At the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, district leaders rolled out a set of scripted, rigidly timed lessons that teachers were required to follow. At the time, district leaders said the move was intended to relieve overburdened teachers of the responsibility of developing lesson plans. But teachers said the scripts left them unable to tailor lessons to students who didn\u2019t understand the concept the first time.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Once the takeover began<\/a>, many teachers felt that the district\u2019s new administration was micromanaging how they managed their classrooms, Poole said. District leaders dictated how teachers had to arrange students\u2019 desks in their classrooms, and required teachers to pull down any posters from their walls. Teachers work hard to make sure their classrooms are warm and inviting, Poole said, and the demands district leaders made undercut those efforts. After those changes, many teachers who were already concerned about the district\u2019s direction began looking seriously at job opportunities elsewhere, he said.<\/p>\n Outgoing teachers cite micromanagement, chaotic climate<\/p>\n Otha Graham, a former English teacher at Paschal High School, said there was a noticeable shift after the takeover in how much freedom teachers had to manage their own classrooms. That shift began almost immediately after Licata and the new board took over, he said.<\/p>\n Before the change, Graham had set his classroom up with students sitting around tables in groups of six. Most of his classes were discussion-based, he said, and that arrangement made it easier for students to talk about the material they were studying while Graham circulated through the room and dropped in on those conversations.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n