State Takes Over FWISD

By A. Govea

Fort Worth ISD serves more than 70,000 students, and roughly 65 percent of them are Hispanic mas o menos. With a community this large and diverse, who controls the district matters — and now, that control has shifted away from locally elected trustees and into the hands of state‑appointed managers.

For parents, this change is more than symbolic. The people they elected to represent their children’s interests no longer hold real authority. Instead, the new managers answer only to Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, who in turn answers to Governor Greg Abbott. Given Abbott’s long‑standing push for private and charter school expansion — a goal he recently achieved has many parents may feeling uneasy about the direction FWISD.

Teachers have their own reasons for concern. Houston ISD’s experience under state control offers a troubling preview. According to reporting from the Texas Tribune, teachers there were pushed into marathon work hours, faced heavier testing demands, and watched successful magnet and fine arts programs disappear. The so‑called “New Education System” emphasized uniformity over innovation, leaving little room for creativity in the classroom. If FWISD follows the same path, the district risks losing talented educators — and possibly even losing schools to the charter sector favored by state leadership.

Adding to the tension is a new push by TEA to monitor teachers’ speech, including social media posts. Reports indicate that Commissioner Morath has sought information about educators who make comments deemed disparaging toward the late Charlie Kirk. As of October, more than 350 complaints had been filed, and school leaders have been instructed to report any “inappropriate” content related to Kirk. The atmosphere echoes the Red Scare of the early 20th century, when Americans feared being accused of disloyalty by neighbors or coworkers.

Fortunately, teachers are not facing this alone. A statewide teachers union has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block TEA from continuing these investigations, arguing that educators still retain their First Amendment rights. How the case will unfold is anyone’s guess. In today’s political climate, where up can feel like down and down like up, certainty is hard to come by.

But one thing is clear: the future of FWISD now rests in the hands of state officials, not the community. And for a district made up of tens of thousands of families — most of them Hispanic — that shift deserves close attention. We will continue to monitor any developments and will be speaking directly with staff, students and parents on future articles.