Fort Worth ISD school board finalizes staff cuts. Teachers are unaffected, officials say
An unknown number of employees in the Fort Worth school district will soon find out if they’re being laid off after Superintendent Angélica Ramsey announced the pending cuts on Monday and the school board of Education finalized the decision on Tuesday.
Officials said the cuts are necessary because of the loss of federal dollars such as ESSER funding, which provided temporary relief to districts to help students catch up and return to school safely amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to declining student enrollment, a projected budget deficit and a lack of state legislative action on public school funding.
The school board voted unanimously during a special meeting on Tuesday to move the cuts forward after discussing the matter in a closed session. It’s unclear how many district employees will lose their jobs, when their last day will be, what departments will see the cuts or how much money will be saved as a result.
Board President Camille Rodriguez said she was “deeply disappointed” in the Texas Legislature for not prioritizing educators. State lawmakers met for nearly a year in 2023 amid four special legislative sessions to consider school vouchers, funding, and safety, in addition to teacher pay, but the proposals never reached Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
“From Seattle to Boston, school districts are being forced to make major cuts. We’re not alone,” Rodriguez said. “The staff has worked tirelessly to minimize the impact of budget constraints. Many issues are beyond our control, but please know we will continue to do everything we can to make Fort Worth ISD the best it can be despite difficult challenges. We were elected to make difficult decisions, and this is one of those.”
Superintendent Ramsey emphasized before the vote that her recommendation did not include classroom teachers, and an internal job fair has been scheduled for affected employees in early March.
“It is crucial to remember that more than 80% of our budget is allocated to salaries. We are fundamentally a people-centered organization, and when we must address fiscal matters, it unfortunately affects our valued employees,” Ramsey said in her Monday announcement. “We understand the profound impact that these decisions have on each member of our team.”
Union leaders, teachers and community members noted during public comment earlier in the meeting that teachers are the ones caught in the middle of budget woes.
Amanda Inay, a fifth-grade teacher at Rufino Mendoza Elementary School who was awarded as a 2023 district teacher of the year, urged the board to remember the faces of the children and their families when making their decisions.
“Without the hope of public education and teachers that believed in me, I wouldn’t be standing in front of you today. And of course, the grace of God,” Inay said. “I just want you to remember that when we make these decisions because it affects people. It affects our children. And it affects our families.”
Meredith Bowman, Fort Worth unit president of the Association of Texas Professional Educators, said the district’s notification should have gone to teachers on Friday afternoon rather than Monday morning when they were preparing for the school day.
“I’ve talked to teachers, they were very stressed all day yesterday. That is uncalled for. We are preparing for our children to come to us, and that puts us in a state of stress and anxiety,” she said.
District officials last year cut certain administration jobs, including high-level employees, in the divisions of academics, equity and excellence, innovation and transformation, school leadership and student support services, reducing its budget by about $1.6 million. The number of full-time employees for campus and department staffing from last school year to this school year decreased by almost 42 people, according to the district’s 2023-2024 budget book.
