Nearly 800,000 students withdrew from public schools from 1997 to 2023
One of the largest public school systems in Texas is at risk of a state takeover after years of plummeting academic ratings.
Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD), with more than 70,000 students, is facing possible intervention this year by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) after the agency shut down the perennially sub-scoring Leadership Academy of Forest Oak Sixth Grade, which received its fifth-straight failing rating before it was closed and merged with another local middle school in 2023.
Last month, the TEA released its 2025 Accountability Ratings along with its delayed 2024 ratings, which offered some encouraging updates on the central Fort Worth district. According to the report, A-rated schools increased by 70%, while F-rated schools dropped by 65%.
Based on metrics including graduation rates, standardized test results and career preparation, the TEA rating is designed to provide parents and community stakeholders with data aimed at assessing both individual campus success and the district’s overall performance.
While this year’s rating might be trending in the right direction, FWISD still holds an overall “C” rating from the TEA, fueling speculation over whether the state will initiate a takeover sometime this year.
And FWISD isn’t alone: a total of five Texas school districts are in jeopardy of state intervention due to poor ratings, according to the Texas Tribune. In addition to FWISD, other districts reportedly facing state intervention include Beaumont, Wichita Falls, Connally and Lake Worth.
While there are a number of factors involved, homeschooling advocates say these outcomes are largely the result of large numbers of Texans removing their children from the public school system. Before the coronavirus pandemic, between 20,000 to 25,000 students in grades 7-12 withdrew to homeschool each year, according to the Texas Homeschooling Coalition (THSC). Since then, that number has reached nearly 30,000 and appears to be stabilizing in that range.
In addition to falling birth rates and demographic change, Anita Scott, THSC policy director, says there’s another factor at work.
Students are leaving the public schools in record numbers, accelerating the enrollment decline even more,” Scott told The Christian Post on Tuesday. “This [acceleration] picked up dramatically with Covid and, as demonstrated by the new homeschool withdrawal numbers, they haven’t slowed down.”
Far from being a short-term trend, Scott said when students from preschool to sixth grade are included, the total number of students withdrawing to homeschool each year in Texas is estimated at more than 50,000.
As many as 83,000 students withdrew from public schools during the 2020-2021 school year alone, she added. In all, Scott said, nearly 800,000 students withdrew from public schools in Texas to begin homeschooling between 1997 and 2023.
Texas is home to an estimated 500,000 to 650,000 homeschool students, making it one of the largest homeschool populations in the nation.
In June, Gov. Greg Abbott signed three key pieces of legislation aimed at protecting homeschooling families, including House Bill 2674, or the Homeschool Freedom Act, which limits regulatory overreach by the TEA and other agencies and ensures that no new restrictions can be imposed on homeschooling without explicit legislative approval.
