After years of underperformance, the Texas Education Agency is taking control of the Fort Worth Independent School District to address continuing failures.
On Thursday, FWISD received a letter from TEA Commissioner Mike Morath stating that the state will now take over the district and will begin looking for interested citizens to serve on the state-appointed Board of Managers that will be supervised by the TEA.
The letter also stated that Morath will announce and appoint a superintendent for FWISD, reviewing multiple candidates, including current FWISD Superintendent Karen Molinar, who took over as Superintendent after Angelica Ramsey resigned from her position.
When Molinar took over as superintendent, she was left with only 35 percent of students in grades three through eight performing at grade level, with fewer than half being able to read at grade level. Additionally, the district released an unofficial accountability report for 2024, which stated that the district earned a C.
Since Molinar has been superintendent, schools within the district have continued to fail to educate students. According to Morath’s letter, during the 2024-2025 school year, multiple campuses had an unacceptable rating for more than two years, and the Leadership Academy at Forest Oak’s sixth-grade campus received five straight unacceptable ratings. FWISD closed and merged the campus; however, after it received five years of unacceptable ratings, the law requires action to be taken by the state.
However, the district’s failing students haven’t been the only problem.
Last year, after Ramsey resigned from her position, documents showed that FWISD would pay her nearly $1 million total until August 30, 2025, when she would officially resign as an employee with the district.
Additionally, Superintendent Molinar is receiving a $360,000 salary, all while continuing to fail students, when she said she would implement drastic changes across the district to improve education.
While school board members are volunteers and do not receive a salary for serving, the superintendent’s salary is paid by the school district’s budget, which is supported by local property taxes and state funding. In addition, the salaries are set by elected school boards and can include additional benefits and bonuses, which are also funded by taxpayers, who are already burdened enough.
FWISD isn’t the only school district failing taxpayers, as it was also revealed by the Texas Public Policy Foundation that “debt generated by just the top ten ISDs in Texas totals more than $36.2 billion, which translates to roughly $36,000 in debt per student.”
In fact, as of the 2024 fiscal year, FWISD has an outstanding debt total of more than $1.692 billion, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill for its mishandling of money.
Furthermore, during the 2022-2023 school year, FWISD spent more than $10 million on consultants, legal expenses, vendors, and lobbyists. In fact, $7.4 million was actually spent on consultants alone, with most of it being spent on three consulting firms, including Boston Consulting Group, which boasts its commitment to DEI.
The other group, Cenergistic LLC, which received more than $2 million from FWISD, specializes in equity and social and emotional learning, which leaves room for educators to push Critical Race Theory onto students.
Although Morath’s search for Board Managers and a conservator is in progress, Superintendent Molinar and the current board will continue executing their duties until early 2026, when the new board and superintendent are announced.
TEA is currently accepting applications from concerned citizens who would like to serve until Friday, November 21, 2025.