The state takeover of the Fort Worth Independent School District is largely based on student performance on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness — a testing system that came under scrutiny this year and led state lawmakers to replace it over concerns that it set students up for failure.
The widespread criticism of STAAR has prompted questions about the fairness of the takeover, including whether the state should replace an elected school board and a superintendent if the test driving the decision does not adequately capture student learning.
Texas’ accountability system assigns school districts a letter grade each year for how well they teach children, close academic achievement gaps and prepare students for life after high school graduation. If a campus receives five consecutive failing grades, state law requires the education commissioner to either order the closure of the school or replace the district’s board with a new group of leaders.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced his plans last week to replace the North Texas school district’s board and name a state-appointed superintendent, saying the district’s current leaders had “failed the students of Fort Worth ISD.”
In addition to low student performance at a now-closed sixth-grade campus, Morath pointed to data showing that only 34% of Fort Worth students are currently performing at grade level and that 20 campuses have produced “academically unacceptable” results for multiple years in a row.
But that rationale has not convinced public education advocates and Fort Worth parents like Zach Leonard, who say Morath’s reliance on STAAR test results to justify his decision “is problematic.”
“We’re using a deeply flawed system to determine who’s going to get their district taken over,” Leonard said. “Until we solve the root cause, which, A, is funding and, B, is fixing the deeply flawed system in Texas — the A-F ratings and STAAR testing — we’re going to continue having this cycle of public school districts being taken over.”
Over the course of this year, both Republican and Democratic legislators blasted the test for how poorly they said it assessed the academic performance of Texas’ 5.5 million public school students.
Gov. Greg Abbott made it possible for the Texas Legislature to eliminate the exam by calling on lawmakers during two overtime lawmaking sessions to “replace it with effective tools to assess student progress and ensure school district accountability.” Rep. Gina Hinojosa, an Austin Democrat now running for governor, said the STAAR test “is rigged against Texas kids” and that school districts “are being set up for takeover.”
Rep. Brad Buckley, one of the Republicans who co-authored the state law eliminating STAAR, criticized the test for what he described as a high-stakes, one-size-fits-all design. Standing in the Texas House chamber, the public education committee chair said the test creates anxiety for students and teachers and that it produces “absolutely no information that a parent can understand.”
Republican Sen. Lois Kolkhorst said the test was “made for people to fail.” During a Senate floor discussion, she asked Sen. Paul Bettencourt, another Republican who played a significant role in crafting the legislation to eliminate the test, if he agreed that STAAR “is not really a measure of a child’s improvement.” Bettencourt responded, “Absolutely.”
Abbott recently signed the law to get rid of STAAR, which will phase out the test by the 2027-28 academic year and replace it with three shorter exams. The governor’s office in a statement did not address the critiques of the test or the fairness of the accountability system. Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson, instead reiterated that Abbott “supports appointing a board of managers for Fort Worth ISD to ensure students receive a top-quality education.” He highlighted that the Houston school district takeover has resulted in improved test results.
Texas Education Agency spokesperson Jake Kobersky pointed to a state-commissioned study that concluded that the 2019 and 2020 versions of the test mostly aligned with Texas’ content and learning standards. The reports concluded that students were mostly capable of understanding what they were reading on the exam. Texas rolled out a revamped version of STAAR during the 2022-23 school year.
Prior to the 2025 legislative sessions, the exam had long faced criticism for concerns it evaluated students unfairly. It not only determines how the state holds schools accountable for subpar academic performance, but the test also decides whether students can graduate high school and whether teachers in certain districts receive bonuses worth thousands of dollars.
Educators say that many districts have focused heavily on “teaching to the test” because of STAAR’s high-stakes nature. In the eyes of Janet Harrison, an instructor of more than two decades who was recently hired to teach literacy in the Fort Worth district, Texas children have missed out on critical learning opportunities because of their schools’ hyperfocus on STAAR.
“You’re not preparing your students to read, write, and think, and do math,” Harrison said. “Basically, you’re teaching them how to take one particular kind of test, and statewide … yes, we are absolutely setting our students up for failure.”
Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Karen Molinar told the Tribune that she recognizes that the question of whether the takeover is fair does not change what’s written in the law, which grants the education agency the authority to take action if a campus does not meet Texas’ academic standards. She expressed disappointment in her district for not doing more to lift students up to grade level across all subjects. Molinar also noted that if the district is doing what’s best for students, it won’t need to depend on “trying to crack the code” of an assessment.
The Fort Worth district for years had struggled to educate its students, especially the children living in predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Many educators, families and officials in and around Fort Worth have agreed that Texas should have a mechanism to hold school districts accountable when they do not meet the needs of students.
But for some, Texas’ emphasis on STAAR and the Legislature’s lack of financial support in areas where districts say they need it most highlight a broader issue: The state is endeavoring to hold schools accountable while sharing some of the blame for their shortcomings.
Hundreds of districts are operating at a budget deficit after going six years without comprehensive school funding legislation, meaning they are increasing class sizes, cutting instructional staff, and shutting down schools and programs that contribute to positive student achievement. The Fort Worth district approved a $44 million deficit earlier this year.
Texas also lags behind much of the country in reading and math scores on national exams, indicating a problem not exclusive to Fort Worth, said Tiffany Clark, a Democratic member of the State Board of Education who represents North Texas.
“So to identify a school district and say there are several issues in this domain, that speaks to our state,” Clark said. “So as a state, what are we doing differently to prepare our students for success? Has TEA come up with a strategic, true intervention for our state as a whole, or are they targeting certain school districts?”
Clark also highlighted the progress the Fort Worth district has made over the last two years, notably reducing the number of F-rated schools from 31 to 11.
Brandon Hall, a Republican State Board of Education member who also represents North Texas, said he is “not a fan of STAAR.” Having one test at the end of the year places too much pressure on students and teachers, Hall said, which is why he supports phasing out the test and relying on three shorter tests that allow schools to track progress throughout the year.
But he pointed to assessments like the Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP, that also show Fort Worth students struggling in critical areas. That’s a major reason why he supports the takeover.
“This is a check and a balance at the state level that was necessary,” Hall said. “This is the state taking accountability and saying, ‘Things are not going well. Student outcomes are too low. We’re going to step in, and you turn this around.’ And so I think that’s accountability taking place right there.”
Rep. Harold V. Dutton Jr., who a decade ago introduced the part of the state law that can trigger a takeover if a district endures five consecutive years of failing grades, said he stands by the approach.
During his time as chair of the House Public Education Committee, Dutton noticed that any time he asked school leaders about the demographic group that struggled the most academically, they would consistently point to Black boys. The Houston Democrat said he wondered why districts could make it work “on the other side of town” where white children made up the majority, but not in communities with mostly kids of color. He said the current law helps ensure the state can hold districts accountable for not serving the children who need the most support.
However, Dutton disagrees with how Texas’ unpopular standardized exam has become such a major component of the public education system.
“I’m not married to the STAAR test,” Dutton said. “But I do think we ought to have something that indicates whether our children are achieving. Whether that’s the STAAR test or another kind of test, we ought to make sure that happens.”
