At the end of last month, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker walked into a school board meeting and told board members that the city’s biggest school district was falling behind.
On Tuesday, nearly a month later, Fort Worth Independent School District Superintendent Angélica Ramsey resigned from her post as head of the district.
Although the issues leading up to Ramsey’s departure came to a head over the past month, many of those challenges date back years, some of them well before her arrival in Fort Worth.
The district’s school board voted Tuesday evening to accept Ramsey’s resignation from the superintendent position , effective Oct. 1. She’ll remain on the district’s payroll until August, although it’s unclear what capacity she’ll be working in. Under her contract, her salary is $335,000 per year.
Ramsey came to Fort Worth ISD in September 2022, after serving as superintendent of the Midland Independent School District for about a year. When they announced the hire, board members said they were impressed with Ramsey’s focus on students and classrooms.
At the time, Fort Worth ISD was in the middle of what district leaders called a “seismic shift” in how it handled reading instruction, moving away from a now-discredited instructional model called balanced literacy and toward instruction grounded in the science of reading. The district was celebrating growth in state test scores and A-F ratings that leaders attributed in part to that change. Ramsey told the Star-Telegram at the time that she supported that shift, and hoped to continue building on it.
But the progress in reading didn’t continue, state test scores suggest. In 2022, the last round of testing before Ramsey arrived in the district, 36% of students in grades 3-8 tested on grade level in reading. Two years later, that number had fallen to 31%.
FWISD’s STAAR scores prompt criticism
The district’s test scores have been one of the biggest sources of criticism against Fort Worth ISD’s leadership. At last month’s board meeting, Parker pointed out that, over the past 10 years, the Dallas and Houston independent school districts have made steady progress on state tests, while Fort Worth ISD has stagnated.
In 2015, Dallas and Fort Worth ISDs were dead even on state tests, with 28% of students scoring on grade level across all subjects. But over the nine years that followed, Dallas ISD improved steadily, climbing to 42% this year. Fort Worth ISD, meanwhile, improved just one point.
In an email to the Star-Telegram on Monday, Ramsey pointed out that, over the past two years, the district’s test scores have held steady or grown in most areas as scores across the state have slipped. But although the gap has narrowed somewhat, Fort Worth ISD continues to lag behind Texas’ other major urban districts. Ramsey didn’t respond to requests for comment for this story.
On Wednesday, Parker acknowledged that those issues predate Ramsey’s time in the Fort Worth ISD, but said the district needs leaders who will help teachers give students the quality of instruction that they need. Parker said she’s heard from several experienced teachers in the district who have told her that bureaucracy is keeping them from helping students grow academically, or from teaching newer educators how to do the job. There seems to be a breakdown between what goes on in the classroom and in the district’s central office, she said.
In Texas, mayors have no formal role in their cities’ education systems, meaning Parker isn’t officially involved in the search for a new superintendent. But she said she’d like to see the board pick a candidate with a proven turnaround record in other districts.
But before that, the board needs to be thoughtful about who it appoints as interim superintendent, she said. District leaders can use that transition period to listen to teachers and families before moving on to a new permanent superintendent, she said.
“Right now, I think we all need to take a deep breath,” Parker said.
Deputy Superintendent Karen Molinar previously served as interim superintendent before Ramsey was hired.
Fort Worth schools face declining enrollment
Stagnant test scores aren’t the only challenge the district has faced during Ramsey’s tenure. Like many districts across the country, Fort Worth ISD has watched its enrollment dwindle over the past decade, dropping 20% between 2016 and 2023. District leaders have pointed to a number of causes for the enrollment declines , including housing patterns, increased competition from charter schools and declining birth rates.
Whatever the reason, declining enrollment is placing financial pressure on the district, forcing the board to make difficult decisions about its facilities. The district is in the middle of a $2 million study looking at how its facilities line up with its needs. A report from that study, which is likely to include recommendations for school closures, is expected to go before the board this winter.
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Separate from that study, the district floated a proposal last spring to consolidate seven low-enrollment middle schools into three larger campuses . All seven campuses were targeted for renovations and improvements under the district’s 2021 bond issue. But after pushback from parents and other community members, the district’s board abandoned the idea and moved forward with renovations as originally scheduled. A district spokesperson told the Star-Telegram those campuses could still end up being targeted for closure under the facilities study.
The district also started the current school year without a codified set of academic goals. In late July, Ramsey brought a proposed five-year strategic plan before the board . The plan included a goal for half the district’s students to score on grade level in reading and math on the Texas state test by 2029. The presentation marked the first time the proposal had been seen in public. The board voted the proposal down, with some members saying they wanted to allow more time for public input before passing the plan. District leaders expected a proposed strategic plan to go back before the board in September, but that hasn’t happened.
Following Tuesday’s meeting, board President Roxanne Martinez said she supported Ramsey’s resignation after hearing concerns from the community about the direction the district was headed.
“The board will, of course, be moving forward with our commitment and focus on student outcomes and improving student achievement,” she said.
Fort Worth ISD’s school board is expected to appoint an interim superintendent in the coming days.
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