Fort Worth education leaders stress the value of choice for city’s families

Choice and innovation is essential across all school systems in order for children to thrive, even if it comes in different forms, according to Fort Worth education leaders.

Representatives of the nonprofit The Miles Foundation, the parent advocacy group Parent Shield Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Independent School District shared their insights Tuesday night on how the city’s education ecosystem is evolving to meet the needs of students and parents .

The speakers touched on topics such as Education Savings Accounts, public schools of choice and school performance data at an event hosted by Leadership Fort Worth at the Stage West Theatre in Near Southside. The speakers gave individual presentations and addressed questions from the crowd of attendees who filled up about half of the 144-seat venue.

Texas’ new $1-billion Education Savings Account (ESA) program was the main topic of conversation with pros and cons of the controversial program shared by The Miles Foundation President and CEO Grant Coates, and Parent Shield Fort Worth Executive Director Trenace Dorsey-Hollins. Although both agreed that school choice is necessary for families, their opinions differed on what school choice should entail.

The ESA program, frequently compared to school vouchers, provides families with about $10,000 in public funding for private school education, which is about 85% of the average state and local funding per student in public schools. Students with disabilities can receive up to $30,000 through the program while home-schooled students qualify for up to $2,000.

When looking at income levels based on a family four, the program funding prioritizes students with disabilities whose families earn about $160,000. Then, students whose families earn less than $64,300 are prioritized next. The final qualifying groups are, in order, families who earn between $64,299 and $160,749, which is followed by families who earn $160,750 or more.

Applications open next month to families, and the program begins in the 2026-27 school year. Advocates call it a win for school choice expansion while opponents say it will have a negative impact on public schools.

Coates highlighted the benefits of ESAs, describing public schools as built for scale and efficiency rather than customization. He shared a story of a local child with autism who struggled in public school but is now thriving in a homeschool program. Coates said the same reality could soon exist for other students whose needs aren’t being met in a public school setting.

Beyond tuition, ESAs will cover other education expenses such as tutoring, therapies and learning materials, he said. He described ESAs as another tool in the city’s education toolbox that will expand access to families who don’t have the means to tailor their child’s education path.

“When a child struggles, the system often moves the child rather than adapting to the child. New classroom, new teacher, new interventions, new plan. For many kids, that works. For others, it doesn’t. Public schools are not always the right fit for every student, and that doesn’t make them bad,” Coates said. “As our community grows more diverse in learning styles, family needs and future workforce demands, we need more than one way to educate a child.”

Dorsey-Hollins outlined the downfalls of ESAs, which included the perspectives of about 500 surveyed parents in the community, she said. Many said the cost of private school tuition was still unaffordable to families even with a $10,000 ESA, stating that some private schools in Fort Worth cost more than $20,000. Dorsey-Hollins also noted that private schools aren’t required to follow individualized education programs, or IEPs, created for students with disabilities.

“In an economy where families are already struggling to pay rent, to pay bills and just provide, you want parents to absorb thousands of additional dollars for education. And for many families, that is not choice, that’s a gamble and a burden in some situations,” Dorsey-Hollins said.

Although she acknowledged that Parent Shield Fort Worth believes in parents having choices for their children’s education needs, she also takes concern with the lack of access to student performance data that private schools typically don’t provide.

Meanwhile, Fort Worth ISD Chief of Schools Priscila Dilley underscored the options that the county’s largest school district provides and the changes it’s making to ensure student success. She named data, talent, choice and innovation as some of the core focuses of the district, pointing to student performance tracking, strengthening the teacher pipeline, dual-language programs and curriculum redesign as examples.

The district’s goal is to balance equity and choice, she said.

“Choice is OK,” Dilley said. “When we’re talking about choice as a district, we have to expand our choices as well. We’re doing that through our dual-language programs, applied learning, our (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) programs… We have to provide students with different options as a district.

“Every neighborhood deserves access to excellence, not just options, but high-quality options. And it’s our job to do that,” she added.