The Fort Worth Independent School District will pay more than $500,000 in salary, benefits and retirement funds to buy out the contract of outgoing Superintendent Angélica Ramsey, whose resignation as leader of the district was effective as of Tuesday this week.
The resignation agreement was released to the Star-Telegram by the district on Wednesday in response to an open records request. It shows that Ramsey will receive two installments of about $247,962 — with the first to be paid this week and the second within the first two weeks of 2025 — as a severance payment. The total of the severance payment is equivalent to one year of salary and benefits. Ramsey also is receiving about $48,540 in unused vacation, sick and personal time.
In addition to the severance, Ramsey began serving as the district’s “ambassador for public relations” as of Tuesday and “shall be placed on school related leave with pay and benefits” during this period, which will continue through Aug. 30, according to the agreement. The agreement states she will continue to receive her full pay and benefits in accordance with the terms outlined in her contract during this employment. Her salary in the contract is $335,000 per year.
Ramsey will be allowed to work outside the district during this time span. If Ramsey decided to resign her employment before Aug. 30, the board would accept her early resignation without penalty and future salary payments would stop but she would not lose the severance payments, the agreement states.
The previous Fort Worth ISD superintendent, Kent Scribner, received a similar buyout when he stepped down in 2022, with payments of more than $500,000 and the same ceremonial title of ambassador for public relations, according to the Star-Telegram’s archives.
“It is strictly a voluntary act of Ramsey to resign her employment as Superintendent of the District because Ramsey believes it will be in her best interest and that of the District to resign her position as Superintendent of the District,” the agreement states.
A clause within the agreement also notes that the district and Ramsey agree she be paid $28,690 for “an amount previously earned and currently due to Ramsey for the Purchase of Service Credit and Supplemental Retirement Plan Contributions for the 2023-24 school year” that will be paid in January.
The agreement’s release comes about a week after the school board accepted Ramsey’s resignation amid scrutiny from Mayor Mattie Parker and other community leaders regarding the district’s academic performance. Records show that Ramsey notified the board of her resignation in a letter on the same day of the meeting when the school board formally accepted it.
“I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the Fort Worth ISD board for allowing me the honor of serving this district over the past two years. It has been a privilege, and I have approached this responsibility with the utmost seriousness and dedication,” Ramsey said in the letter.
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An interim superintendent could be appointed on Oct. 8, when the board next meets, and in the meantime, “the district’s leadership team will continue to manage day-to-day operations in accordance with established procedures,” district officials said in a statement earlier this week.
“We are in the process of finalizing next steps for the district’s leadership transition,” officials said.
Ramsey, who previously served as superintendent of Midland ISD, began working for the Fort Worth district in September 2022. Before her resignation, her contract as superintendent was set to end in July 2026.
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