Let Superintendent Kent Scribner know you want him to publicly adopt the Contract with FWISD Students. None of these goals are disagreeable, and all of them are doable.

If he chooses not to accept this vision for our students we ask the school board to find a superintendent who will.

You’ve seen the academic report cards showing only 25% of 3rd graders passing reading, only 47% of students passing Algebra 1, and the district dead last among the state’s 20 largest ISDs with a C while Dallas and Houston earned high Bs. Families have noticed and are voting no confidence with their feet. Over 12,000 students have fled the district since 2016, a 14% drop in enrollment. The situation is dire for our students and our city.

The district is funded. On top of its annual tax payer supported operating budget of approximately $875 million, FWISD has recently received an additional $2.2 billion in revenue from the 2017 penny swap election, the 2017 bond election, the 2020 tax increase election, hundreds of millions in federal COVID relief, and the 2021 bond election.

Our students need leaders, and leaders need goals. With this in mind, Focus on Students presents the Contract with Fort Worth ISD Students for public adoption by district leadership.

The Contract's 8 achievable goals are:

• Reading at or above state average.

• Math at or above state average.

• No F Schools by 2024.

• No D schools by 2025.

• B+ district by 2026.

• Instructors teaching in their core area.

• Daily attendance at or above state average.

• Key Performance Indicators read at all board and committee meetings.

This vision for our students includes short and long term goals. Regrettably, many plans like this are adopted only to be shelved and forgotten. To keep district leadership on track the Contract includes a dashboard of key performance indicators to be maintained, updated, and read aloud publicly at every meeting of the school board and its committees.

Some folks say FWISD is beyond repair. Others find excuses or blame forces outside district control.

We disagree and offer the example of every other large urban district in Texas as proof that education can improve, that decline is not destiny, and that the children of Fort Worth can have access to the quality education FWISD is charged with providing.