The Texas education commissioner is now officially weighing his options for Fort Worth ISD after a now-closed school triggered the state’s school intervention law.
In a May 5 letter to Superintendent Karen Molinar and board President Roxanne Martinez, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said the district’s accountability ratings triggered a state law that requires him to intervene.
Fort Worth ISD spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
The issue: The Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade failed to meet state standards for five straight years — a threshold that mandates either a campus closure or the appointment of a board of managers to govern the entire district.
Although the failing campus no longer exists, its closure does not absolve the district from consequences, Morath said.
“Since the campus earned its fifth consecutive unacceptable academic rating in that year, the school’s subsequent closure has no bearing on, and does not abrogate, the compulsory action the statute requires the commissioner to take,” he wrote in the letter.
District leaders closed the sixth grade campus — formerly known as Glencrest Sixth Grade — at the end of the 2023-24 school year. It was absorbed into Forest Oak Middle School as part of a consolidation plan TEA approved. The school is now marked “obsolete” in the state’s directory.
Still, the delayed release of 2023 academic accountability ratings due to a lawsuit showed the campus earned an F that year. Because the campus had also failed to meet standards in 2022, 2019, 2018 and 2017, the five-year mark was reached.
The 2020 and 2021 ratings were not issued due to the COVID-19 pandemic and state policy changes. By law, those “Not Rated” years do not break the chain of failure, Morath said.
District officials previously told the Fort Worth Report they believe Fort Worth ISD is not at risk of a takeover. They said the Forest Oak Sixth Grade closure and campus consolidation already addressed the issue — and that academic performance has improved.
“We are proud of the growth that we have seen in Forest Oak Middle School since the expansion and consolidation to one 6-8 grade campus,” Molinar wrote in an April 24 community letter.
In his letter, Morath emphasized that his hands are tied by law.
“Commissioner action under this section of the (Texas Education Code) is compulsory,” he wrote. “The commissioner does not have discretion whether to act under this provision.”
Morath will not make a final decision until after the ratings are finalized later this summer. Fort Worth ISD has the right to appeal the preliminary rating for the now-closed campus. That process will conclude in August.
The commissioner also signaled a broader review of district leadership may be coming.
“It is critical that district leadership take aggressive action to improve the academic lives of students in Fort Worth ISD, immediately,” Morath wrote. “I will be evaluating the operations and leadership of Fort Worth ISD more closely in the coming months.”
Fort Worth ISD received a D overall in the preliminary ratings — the lowest among the 12 districts serving the city. According to Morath, 77 campuses across the district received either a D or a F, and eight have failed to meet standards since at least 2018.
Only 32% of third graders were reading on grade level, the letter said, and just 31% were meeting math benchmarks — figures the commissioner called representative of broader struggles across the district.
“While the actions required of me by the statute are serious, they are absolutely necessary for the students of Fort Worth ISD,” Morath wrote.
TEA said it reserves the right to use any other interventions or sanctions under state law in the meantime.
If the district’s appeal is unsuccessful, Morath will be forced to decide between ordering further campus closures — or replacing the school board, and superintendent, entirely.
Editor’s note: This is a developing story.
Jacob Sanchez is a senior education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at [email protected] or @_jacob_sanchez.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at [email protected] or @matthewsgroi1.
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.
Related
Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.
Republish This Story
Republishing is free for noncommercial entities. Commercial entities are prohibited without a licensing agreement. Contact us for details.
