(Texas Scorecard) – The Texas Education Agency is appointing new school boards in Beaumont, Connally, and Lake Worth Independent School Districts after campuses in each district received failing academic ratings for at least five consecutive years.
Under Texas law, Education Commissioner Mike Morath must either appoint a new school board or close a campus after five years of consecutive failing ratings under the state’s A–F accountability system.
In all three cases, Morath has opted to replace the elected school boards with appointed boards of managers and to install conservators with broad authority over academics, governance, and finances.
For Beaumont ISD, this is a return to state oversight. TEA previously took over the district in 2014 amid financial scandals and governance failures, then restored local control in 2020 after years of supervision. Despite some improvement since then, Beaumont ISD still posted an overall “D” rating and has campuses that have been rated unacceptable for roughly eight to nine years when COVID‑era pauses are factored in.
The latest intervention was triggered by consecutive failing ratings at MLK Middle School and Fehl‑Price Elementary, even though one campus has since been closed and the other was turned over to a charter partner. Morath has said the law leaves little discretion once chronic failure is documented, arguing that “very, very significant problems” in a district demand action on behalf of students and taxpayers.
Connally ISD, near Waco, also crossed the statutory line, with Connally Elementary School and Connally Junior High both earning their fifth consecutive failing rating.
In Lake Worth ISD, which is near Fort Worth, the Marilyn Miller Language Academy earned its fifth unacceptable rating, while five of the district’s six campuses earned failing grades for the 2024-2025 year.
These three takeovers follow TEA’s 2023 seizure of Houston ISD and its more recent announcement that Fort Worth ISD is set to face a similar fate.
Before the takeovers are finalized, each district can request an informal review with Morath and then file a formal appeal with the State Office of Administrative Hearings if the commissioner maintains his decision.
If those challenges fail, TEA will appoint new boards of managers, select or approve superintendents, and keep the districts under state control until campuses post acceptable ratings for multiple years.
The timeline for returning control to local boards will depend on how quickly each district can move struggling campuses off the state’s “unacceptable” list and keep them there.
