Daily Brew: November 11, 2025
Welcome to the Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, Brew.
By: Lara Bonatesta
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Texas Education Agency takes control of 11th school district since 2000
- Five candidates are running in the Republican primary for Texas' 8th Congressional District on March 3, 2026
- SNAP benefit funding and the state's hold harmless period end on November 1
Texas Education Agency takes control of 11th school district since 2000
A version of this story appeared in Hall Pass, Ballotpedia’s newsletter dedicated to school board politics and education policy, on Nov. 5. Click here to sign up.
On Oct. 23, Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath said he would replace all nine elected members of the Fort Worth Independent School District board of trustees with state-selected appointees, citing poor academic performance at several schools. On Nov. 6, Morath appointed former New Mexico secretary of education Christopher Ruszkowski as a conservator to oversee the takeover, replacing superintendent Karen Molinar.
The Fort Worth ISD takeover is the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) 11th since 2008. Between 2008 and 2025, the TEA has appointed a board of managers for 10 districts for reasons ranging from poor academic performance to financial mismanagement.
Fort Worth ISD is the 10th largest district in Texas, with approximately 71,000 students. It is the second-largest district that the TEA has taken over. In 2023, the TEA assumed control of the Houston Independent School District, the state’s largest district. Click here to read our coverage of that takeover. In June 2025, the TEA extended the Houston takeover through 2027.
In his letter to district leadership, Morath said the Leadership Academy at Forest Oak, a middle school, had received its fifth consecutive unacceptable academic accountability rating. As a result, Morath said he was required “to either order closure of the campus or appoint a board of managers to govern the district.”
Morath also said, “20 campuses have been academically unacceptable for multiple years in a row, including two campuses that have earned unacceptable ratings for four consecutive years.”
Morath said he had directed TEA staff to begin identifying potential appointees to replace the elected board members. The process includes a call for applications, which are due Nov. 21. The elected board will remain involved in district affairs in an advisory capacity and the district will still hold school board elections. Once the district meets the TEA-established criteria for ending the takeover, the most recently elected board will assume control of the district.
The TEA uses the A-F Accountability System, implemented in 2019, to rate districts and campuses. In 2023, a group of more than 120 districts sued to stop the TEA from releasing performance ratings after Morath announced stricter standards. The districts said Morath did not give them enough notice of the changing criteria. In April 2025, the Fifteenth District Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit blocking the release of the 2022-23 scores. The Leadership Academy at Forest Oak received an F for the 2022-23 school year.
In August, the Fifteenth District Court of Appeals threw out a separate lawsuit that had blocked the release of the 2023-24 scores. The TEA released 2023-24 and 2024-25 scores in August.
The district closed the Leadership Academy at Forest Oak and assigned students to the Forest Oak Middle School at the end of the 2023-24 school year. Morath said even though the school no longer exists, the law still requires him to intervene.
On Oct. 30, school board president Roxanne Martinez and attorneys for the district, along with board members Tobi Jackson, Anne Darr, and Wallace Bridges, met with Morath and asked him to reconsider the takeover.
Molinar did not attend the meeting. Morath has said she can apply to stay on as superintendent, though he is conducting a national search for a potential replacement.
The Texas affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the country’s second-largest teachers union, opposes the takeover.
Thirty-five states allow state takeovers of districts or schools. Between 1988 and 2023, agencies in at least 25 states assumed control of districts or individual schools. The first time a state assumed control of a school district was in 1989, when New Jersey took over Jersey City Public Schools. Although the state had relinquished much of its control of the district by 2008, the takeover formally ended in 2022.
Click here to learn more about state takeovers of districts.
Five candidates are running in the Republican primary for Texas' 8th Congressional District on March 3, 2026
Now that the 2025 general elections have passed, we’re beginning our coverage of elections happening in 2026. Texas is holding some of the earliest primaries in 2026. Today, we’re spotlighting the March 3, 2026, Republican primary for Texas' 8th Congressional District.
Five candidates are running in the Republican primary. The filing deadline is Dec. 8. Two candidates lead in media attention and endorsements: Jessica Steinmann (R) and Nick Tran (R).
Incumbent Morgan Luttrell (R) is not running for re-election. For a list of U.S. Representatives who are not running for re-election in 2026, click here. The last time this district was open was 2022, when Luttrell was first elected.
Steinmann is an attorney and works for the America First Policy Institute. In 2020, President Donald Trump (R) appointed her Director of the Office of Victims of Crime in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). She also worked for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) from 2015 to 2018 and was elections committee counsel in the Texas House of Representatives in 2021. Steinmann is campaigning on her legal experience and her work at the DOJ. Cruz, Luttrell, and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) endorsed Steinmann.
Tran is a small business owner and U.S. Army veteran. Previously, he worked in the oil and gas industry for 12 years, including as Director of Community Affairs and Employee Engagement at Schlumberger. Tran is campaigning on his military service and oil and gas background. His website also said he would not serve more than three terms in Congress and that he would donate one-third of his congressional salary to veteran causes. Former Republican Party of Texas chair Allen West (R) and Veterans for America First endorsed Tran.
Both candidates' campaign websites say they support America First policies, as well as policies promoting election integrity, southern border infrastructure, and requiring transgender athletes to participate in sports based on their sex.
Also running in the primary are Jay Fondren (R), Brett Jensen (R), and Deddrick Wilmer (R).
As of November 2025, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales, and Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball each rated the general election Safe/Solid Republican. Luttrell won re-election in 2024 with 68% of the vote.
Texas conducted redistricting between the 2024 and 2026 elections. As a result, district lines in this state changed. According to an Inside Elections’ analysis, under the old map, Donald Trump (R) would have won the district by 34 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election. Under the new map, Trump would have won the district by 28 percentage points. Click here to see the map of the district that was in use for the 2024 election, and here to see the map that the Texas Legislature enacted ahead of 2026.
To review how redistricting took place in Texas, click here. For a list of all states that drew new district lines between 2024 and 2026, click here.
Click here to read more about the March 3 Republican primary for Texas’ 8th Congressional District.
SNAP benefit funding and the state's hold harmless period ended on Nov. 1
November 1 marked two key events for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a federally funded public assistance program that provides monthly payments to low-income households to help them buy groceries. On that day, some SNAP recipients did not receive benefits due to the federal government shutdown. The lapse in benefits has drawn national media coverage and is at the center of debates about the shutdown. The other SNAP-related event, however, has received less attention.
November 1 also marked the end of a key period related to implementing new SNAP provisions under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) — the end of the hold harmless period during which states were not held responsible for implementation errors that could affect the amount of federal funding that states receive for SNAP benefits in future years. States administer their SNAP programs with their own and federal government funding. The programs' administration costs are split between the state and federal governments. The federal government is solely responsible for the cost of benefits. Starting in the 2027 fiscal year, states will be responsible for 75% of administrative costs, up from 50%, as a result of the OBBBA.
The two key provisions in question are Sections 10102 and 10103 of the OBBBA.
Section 10102 changed the program's work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWD). This section:
- Raised the age to meet work requirements from 54 to 64
- Made households with children ages 14 to 17 newly subject to the work requirements
- Ended exceptions for veterans, homeless people, and certain former foster care children
- Added exceptions for members of certain indigenous groups
Section 10103 changed how state agencies must treat payments that recipients use to pay energy costs. Households that do not have an elderly or disabled member are no longer automatically eligible for SNAP solely on the basis that they are receiving these types of energy payments.
These sections took effect on July 4. The USDA said that states would not be held responsible for errors regarding the implementation of these provisions for 120 days after the enactment of the OBBBA.
With Nov. 1 past, erroneous payments and other mistakes related to the OBBBA provisions will affect the amount of federal funding that states receive beginning in 2028. If a state's error rate remains lower than 6%, the federal government will continue to cover 100% of benefit costs. As a state's error rate increases, the federal share of funding for benefits will decline to as little as 85%.
Below is a breakdown of the formula as outlined in Section 10105 of the OBBBA:
For the 2028 fiscal year, states will be allowed to choose if their payment rate is based on their 2025 or 2026 error rate. Beginning in 2029, states’ payment rates will be determined by the 2026 error rate.
For states whose 2025 or 2026 error rate, when multiplied by 1.5, is greater than 20, cost-sharing can be delayed until the 2030 fiscal year. (For example: a state with a 15% error rate in either year qualifies for delayed cost-sharing because 15x1.5=22.5). States that meet this criterion start paying a cost-share of benefits provided in their state two years later than other states (FY30 instead of FY28). The share of benefits they pay at that time will be based on their error rate in FY27 and follow the same formula as other states.
Click here to learn more about the implementation of SNAP provisions from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and here to learn more about SNAP work requirements.
