Did Fort Worth ISD superintendent get raise, contract extension? School board stays quiet
After spending about 3½ hours in a closed session that included an evaluation for Fort Worth Independent School District Superintendent Angélica Ramsey, the Board of Education stayed quiet on whether it gave Ramsey a pay raise, contract extension or other potential reward.
Board members during a special meeting on Tuesday unanimously approved a vague vote that entailed “action on the superintendent’s contract as discussed in closed session,” according to Trustee Kevin Lynch, who made the motion. It’s unclear what that action was specifically, as there was no public discussion by the board.
The Star-Telegram has submitted a public information request for Ramsey’s latest contract language.
On Wednesday afternoon, the district issued a statement saying that the board agreed to a requested modification by Ramsey that “specifically relates to the method of disbursing certain benefits, with a shift towards placing them into a retirement account.”
The vote comes six months after Ramsey’s last evaluation, where she received a one-year extension to her contract, which expires in 2026. Trustee Lynch had abstained from voting when the Board of Education approved this in July.
Because an extension was granted in July, “no additional actions regarding the contract’s duration were deemed necessary at this time,” according to the district’s statement Wednesday.
“In adherence to the board’s commitment to continuous assessment and improvement, potential further extensions and other provisions to the superintendent’s contract will be considered at a meeting scheduled for July. This forthcoming evaluation will align with the District’s strategic goals and the Superintendent’s performance metrics,” district officials said.
Before the Tuesday vote, community members during public comment urged the board to refrain from making changes to Ramsey’s contract.
“You have the authority to base your criteria on the performance level of the students,” speaker Joe Palmer said. “Just don’t renew (the contract). Wait until the individual scores come out.”
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In September, Fort Worth ISD joined several other Texas districts in a lawsuit against Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath over the state’s A-F accountability ratings issued to districts and individual schools. The case is still ongoing and claims that pending changes to the state’s grading criteria will hurt districts, even if their performance has improved. The litigation has put the 2022-2023 school year ratings on pause.
Fort Worth resident Amie Super also urged the board against approving a raise or contract extension, partly citing the district’s declining enrollment that began before Ramsey’s hiring but has not improved since she joined the district.
“The kids are watching. The parents are watching. The community is watching,” she said. “Don’t reward failure. Don’t reward (incompetence).”
Toni Cordova, the district’s chief of governance and strategic communications, told the Star-Telegram that superintendent evaluations typically are done in January when state data is released. Ramsey’s Tuesday evaluation came forward to reset the timeline for when the annual evaluations should be.
Ramsey was hired in September 2022 and earns $335,000 a year, according to her contract. She was previously superintendent of Midland ISD in western Texas. Before coming to Texas, she served as a superintendent in California for the Pleasant Valley School District for five years.
