The Texas Education Agency will appoint a conservator of Connally Independent School District and replace its elected school board with a state-appointed board of managers after two campuses failed to meet state academic standards for five consecutive years, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath announced Thursday.
Morath on Thursday also announced takeovers of Beaumont and Lake Worth school districts.
In a statement, Morath said multiple years of failing grades at Connally Elementary School and Connally Junior High School represent a “fundamental mission failure and a complete inability to take necessary action to ensure a high quality education for students.”
He said the timeline of the takeover has yet to be announced, and the current board of trustees and the superintendent, Jill Bottelberghe, will remain in place until he chooses new leadership.
In a statement, Connally ISD did not contest the takeover decision but pointed to district improvements over the last two years under Bottelberghe.
“Ms. Bottelberghe remains fully committed to these improvement initiatives and will continue to oversee them as the district’s superintendent until the TEA appoints a replacement,” the statement reads. “While we are supremely proud of the progress that we have made, we recognize that there is still work that needs to be done.”
Morath’s decision to intervene in the Connally district, barring an appeal, would mark the 12th state takeover since 2000. The growing list of districts subject to academic or governance interventions also includes two of the state’s largest: Fort Worth and Houston. The Fort Worth school board has said it plans to appeal the commissioner’s decision, which was announced in October.
State law allows Morath to either close a campus or appoint new district leadership if at least one school receives five consecutive failing grades in Texas’ academic accountability system. That A-F grading system is largely based on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, a standardized exam that lawmakers voted this year to replace in 2027.
Connally Junior High received its fifth consecutive F grade in 2024, but the state did not publicly release the ratings until earlier this year. Several districts had sued the state over changes to the accountability system, effectively pausing the results until a judge recently ruled in Texas’ favor.
Connally Elementary School received its fifth consecutive F in the 2025 ratings.
The school district educates just over 2,200 mostly Black and Hispanic students. Roughly 84% of those students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which the state considers an indicator of poverty.
In a statement, Connally ISD did not contest the takeover decision but pointed to district improvements over the last two years under Superintendent Jill Bottelberghe.
“Ms. Bottelberghe remains fully committed to these improvement initiatives and will continue to oversee them as the district’s superintendent until the TEA appoints a replacement,” the statement reads. “While we are supremely proud of the progress that we have made, we recognize that there is still work that needs to be done.
Morath: Board ‘failed its students’
During a visit to Connally Junior High in September, Morath told The Waco Bridge that he had observed improvements in the school’s curriculum and support for students and teachers. The state had previously required both the junior high and elementary school to implement academic turnaround plans after the 2023 ratings showed they had experienced back-to-back years of unacceptable grades.
Morath’s assessment of the district in the Thursday letter was more blunt.
“I do not make this decision lightly,” he said. “As a formerly elected school board member, I understand the importance and impact local school board members can have on the quality of schools in their districts. Ultimately, the Connally ISD school board has, collectively, through action and inaction over many years, failed its students. The inability of the district to implement effective changes to improve the performance of students in the district or at the campus necessitates the interventions announced by this letter.”
The district’s statement praised the current board and urged Connally ISD residents to apply for the board of managers.
“We are incredibly thankful for the time, effort, and sacrifices that our elected Board of Trustees have made over the years,” the district stated. “It is clear that they truly care about the students and employees of Connally ISD with all their hearts. It is our hope that the appointed Board of Managers will work to not only improve our district’s academic performance, but also serve our community with the same passion and sincerity as our Board of Trustees has.”
Takeovers were once rare in Texas, but they have grown more common in the last decade, thanks to the 2015 law that made it easier for the state to step in after five consecutive F grades. It also expanded the commissioner’s ability to initiate special investigations, which could lead to an intervention.
Before 2015, El Paso experienced the only academic takeover in Texas, due to a widespread cheating scandal. Since the law’s passage, the education agency has officially taken over three districts because of low academic performance: Marlin, Shepherd and Houston. Fort Worth, Beaumont, Lake Worth and Connally would be next on the list, barring any successful appeals.
The largest takeover is occurring in the Houston school district, which enrolls more than 183,000 students. That intervention began in 2023 and was recently extended through 2027.
Morath and state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles say the intervention was warranted, and they tout as evidence the improved test scores in the two years since it started. Students have improved in every tested subject. None of the district’s campuses received an F on the state’s accountability ratings in the 2024-25 school year, a drastic improvement from the 56 underperforming campuses in 2022-23.
But the intervention has also run into strong criticism. Teacher departures have skyrocketed. Thousands of students have unenrolled. And improved test scores have sparked concern that the district has accomplished that feat, in part, because of a hyperfocus on testing and moving students into less rigorous math and science classes.
Texas Tribune reporter Alex Nguyen and Waco Bridge Editor-in-Chief J.B. Smith contributed to this story.
