AUSTIN, TEXAS — Texas House Democrats condemned today’s state takeover of Fort Worth ISD, calling it the latest example of Republican leadership’s systematic assault on local control and Texans’ neighborhood schools.
The Texas Education Agency announced it will replace FWISD’s elected school board with a state-appointed board of managers, stripping Fort Worth voters of their voice in local school governance despite the district’s recent academic improvements.
Texas House Democratic Leader Rep. Gene Wu: “Fort Worth families elected their school board to represent their values and their children’s needs. Today, Greg Abbott and his cronies at TEA took that voice away. This is the same playbook they used on my community in Houston: when parents don’t bow to Republicans’ extremist agenda, they dissolve democracy itself. Fort Worth ISD cut its failing schools from 31 to 11 in just one year, but instead of supporting that progress, Republicans are seizing control. If Republicans cared half as much about actually funding our neighborhood schools as they do about their voucher scam to funnel taxpayer money into private schools, we wouldn’t be here in the first place. While Republicans attack Fort Worth voters’ local control, Democrats will continue to fight to fully fund our schools and give Texan parents their voices back.”
