Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and state Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, said Wednesday that the state's takeover of Fort Worth ISD has left important questions without answers. The two spoke at a Texas Tribune event held on the TCU campus, according to the Fort Worth Report.
Texas took over the 60,000-student district in March. Under state law, intervention follows when a school or district earns five straight F ratings in the accountability system, which leans mostly on STAAR results. At that point the Texas education commissioner weighs whether to close a failing school or swap the elected board and superintendent for appointees chosen by the state.
Parker said fear was the first word that came to mind when describing what she hears from parents, then settled on anxiety instead. "I always knew it was going to be a difficult transition, and that's understandable," she said. Parents tell her that communication from the district's administration is unclear and that central office leaders do not truly understand the community, she said.
Collier pointed to what she called a flaw in the law: elected trustees have no authority for as long as the intervention lasts. She is proposing a bill to create a continuity board meant to ease the handoff from the state-appointed board of managers back to elected trustees.
"What if the board of managers don't do well? Why do you keep them in place?" Collier said. "They said that they were supposed to evaluate the progress of the school (district) within two years. If you haven't done anything, you just need to give it back." She said districts deserve enough time for a turnaround led locally, though not an unlimited amount.
