Texas power grid faces early surge in demand, could break spring records

The Texas power grid is under close watch on Wednesday as ERCOT forecasts a sharp spike in electricity demand — a surge strong enough to potentially break springtime records.

According to the grid operator, it’s unusual to see such high power usage this early in the year. But Wednesday’s sudden heat wave sweeping across much of the state is driving electricity demand higher than usual for May.

According to ERCOT’s website, the grid operator predicts demand could reach 81,000 megawatts by 5 p.m. Wednesday — far surpassing the previous May record of 77,000 megawatts set just last year. Earlier this week, ERCOT had projected an even higher peak of 84,216 megawatts for today. For perspective, the all-time state power demand record of 85,435 megawatts was set during extreme summer heat in August 2023.

Despite the high demand, experts say Texans shouldn’t be alarmed.

“I’d say it’s almost business as usual,” said David Kinchen, Chief Operating Officer at Energy Ogre and a leading state energy expert. “We definitely get feast or famine on weather for either temperatures, or even rain and sun in Texas. It’s definitely earlier in the year than I’m used to, but it’s not a huge issue right now.”

ERCOT has not issued an emergency alert or asked consumers to conserve. The grid is holding up, but we are seeing a tight margin between supply and demand today.

What’s helping the state keep the lights on is the growing contribution of renewable energy. ERCOT expects solar and wind power to be the saving grace today, even with some coal and natural gas plants currently offline for routine maintenance.

Kinchen explained that spring is typically the “shoulder season” when power generation crews schedule maintenance — a practice that can complicate unexpected early heatwaves like this one.

“A lot of the fleet tries to do their maintenance in these shoulder periods — that means not during the peak of summer or winter,” he said. “We’re getting to the end of that window, but there is going to be some of the thermal fleet that maybe isn’t all the way done with their maintenance season yet. So that’s why I don’t love the last couple weeks of May, because maybe the fleets are not totally recovered yet.”

Kinchen said he expects energy demand to ease later Wednesday evening thanks to recent rainfall that’s kept vegetation and soil moist — a natural cooling aid.

Looking ahead, he’s advising Texans to prepare for a hotter-than-average summer, though he’s hopeful the season won’t be unusually dry.

“It doesn’t mean the hottest summer, but it definitely will be warm,” Kinchen said. “I’m hoping it won’t be drier than normal, because that also really feeds into the skyrocketing temperatures. I think I’ve seen some forecasts suggesting near normal amounts of moisture, which would be great.”

One positive trend this summer could be Texas’s solar energy output. Kinchen believes the state could break records in solar production in the coming months, helping meet demand during the hottest parts of the day.

He also urges consumers to stay mindful of their energy usage, especially as bills could spike along with the temperatures.

“The way I always look at it is, you can try to control the price by being on a competitive plan, or you can try to control your usage,” he said. “Your A/C is your biggest load — so you can set the thermostat higher and save money, but it depends on how much comfort you’re willing to give up for those savings.”

Meanwhile, as Texans crank up the air conditioning, state lawmakers are also taking action. A new proposal — Senate Bill 6 — is moving through a House committee on Wednesday.

The bill aims to protect Texas’s power grid in the long term by placing restrictions on how large businesses, such as data centers and oil and gas operations, tap into the system.

Lawmakers warn that demand from these industries could double the state’s energy needs by 2030.

Senate Bill 6 has already passed the Senate and now faces debate in the House.

No. 1 Melissa softball team celebrates national record, playoff run

It has been a successful season for the Melissa High School softball team, and the season isn’t over yet. As of May 13, the Cardinals were undefeated on the season (34-0) and ranked No. 1 nationally.

“I’m just so proud of this team. I really am. They have all worked so hard,” Head Coach Cassie Crabtree said. “We’ve been the number one team in the nation pretty much all season, but we really didn’t talk about it. It’s been in the backs of their minds, but it is never really the focus. Their biggest focus this year has been the feeling of winning it last year and the fear of not getting back, and that has fueled them all season.

In their first game of the best-of-three UIL Texas 5A Division I regional semifinal series, Melissa set a national record for the most home runs hit in a single season.

“They get up in the morning at 6:30 to hit, and they always are thinking that they have to keep the crown. That’s our motto. We know we hit home runs, but we just tried not to mention it. We tied the record and broke it within 90 seconds. It was just amazing. Everybody knew we had done it. I can remember sitting back a couple of weeks ago, knowing we were close, but I didn’t know for sure if it was going to happen. Then, you look up and they did it. It was pretty awesome,” Crabtree said.

Crabtree said she knew this team was special at the beginning of the season, but never imagined record-breaking success.

While she said the team is like family, she really is family to one of them. Her daughter Caigan, who is a senior and will graduate on May 22, has already committed to play at the University of Texas.

“This team is nothing but fighters, and I have always known that we had something special, but they know it’s hard to go back-to-back [championships]. They are just doing so well. It is an amazing feeling knowing that we are creating leaders and kids who can go out and be successful. They know they can put anything they can put their minds to. They are strong, independent, and go on and have great futures,” Crabtree said.

Crabtree said each player has been integral in their success, but certainly a standout has been Kennedy Bradley. Bradley is only a junior, but has already committed to the University of Florida. She leads the home run derby for the Cardinals with 23 home runs this season.

In a Facebook post, the team wrote in part: We didn’t luck into this. We earned it. Every swing, every late night, every sacrifice. This record was built on early mornings, late nights, and a whole lot of grit and determination.”

The Cardinals are back on the diamond Wednesday, May 14, against Lake Belton. If they win that game, they will move on to the state semifinal series next week. The state title game will be hosted at U-T Austin later in May.

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Men are more likely to die of ‘broken heart syndrome,' study says

After a traumatic event like a divorce or the death of a loved one, some people may experience chest pain and shortness of breath — the result of a condition known colloquially as “broken heart syndrome.”

The syndrome, which doctors formally call takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is thought to be triggered by physical or emotional stress, which releases bursts of stress hormones like adrenaline that prevent people’s hearts from contracting properly. Most patients recover quickly, but a small minority suffer heart failure. 

Although broken heart syndrome is most common in women, men die from it at more than twice the rate, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

The study analyzed data from nearly 200,000 adults in the U.S. who were hospitalized with broken heart syndrome from 2016 to 2020. Around 11% of men in that group died, compared with roughly 5% of women. The data reinforce previous studies that showed higher mortality rates in men.

“It seems to be a consistent finding that men don’t get takotsubo syndrome as much, but when they do, they do worse,” said Dr. Harmony Reynolds, director of the Sarah Ross Soter Center for Women’s Cardiovascular Research at NYU Langone Health, who wasn’t involved in the study.

The differences between men and women may have something to do with what’s triggering their conditions, cardiologists said.

In men, broken heart syndrome is usually brought on by a physical stressor, such as a surgery or stroke. In women, the impetus is typically emotional, like losing a job or loved one.

“The people with emotional stressors actually do quite well,” said Dr. Ilan Wittstein, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, who wasn’t part of the new research.

“Men may be more at risk for dying and having bad outcomes because they’re less susceptible to begin with,” he said. “So it takes a more dangerous trigger to precipitate the syndrome.”

The study’s lead author, Dr. Mohammad Movahed, said men may also have a harder time recovering from broken heart syndrome since they tend to have less social support to help them manage stress.

“If you have this stressful trigger, and the stress is not gone, that’s probably going to continue to harm the heart, or at least reduce the chance of recovery,” said Movahed, a cardiologist at the University of Arizona’s Sarver Heart Center.

But scientists still have lingering questions about what’s driving the syndrome, and why people die from it in rare cases.

“People are still looking for the holy grail of what causes this condition,” Wittstein said.

Is stress the only trigger?

To confirm that a person has broken heart syndrome, doctors look for a few tell-tale signs.

In a typical patient, part of their heart muscle is enlarged like a balloon, but they do not have a blocked artery, which is usually associated with heart attacks. Most patients can also point to a stressful event that predated the episode.

“The stresses that we endure in our daily lives, both physical and emotional, can in fact take tolls on us,” said Dr. Matthew Tomey, a cardiologist at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital in New York City. “You can feel the heartache in those moments, and there may literally be some heartache of sorts that’s accompanying that.”

But Wittstein said stress alone may not be enough to trigger broken heart syndrome.

“Some people just get a little frustrated at work, or somebody was out jogging a little too vigorously, or somebody just got stuck at a red light and was annoyed,” he said.

Reynolds said one of her patients has had the syndrome four times — each event precipitated by minor stomach bugs that caused her to vomit.

“She just really hates vomiting and will throw up and get” takotsubo cardiomyopathy, she said.

Wittstein now believes some patients may have an underlying susceptibility to broken heart syndrome. His research suggests that stress hormones can constrict tiny blood vessels surrounding the heart, which decrease blood flow. That would make certain people, such as those with high blood pressure or high cholesterol, more susceptible, he said.

Research has also shown that post-menopausal women are more prone to broken heart syndrome. Wittstein said that’s probably due, in part, to a decline in estrogen, which helps dilate the tiny blood vessels around the heart.

But Reynolds said there’s not enough research to know that for sure.

“It’s at some level obvious that sex hormones are implicated but trying to draw that link and really connect the dots, we have not gotten there yet,” she said.

Hard to treat, hard to prevent

Cardiologists said the mysteries surrounding broken heart syndrome can make it hard to prevent or treat.

Doctors occasionally prescribe medications used for other heart issues, such as beta blockers, or find ways to help people reduce stress, such as meditating and talking to a mental health professional.

“We have not found anything so far — any medication, any specific treatment — that can reduce complications or reduce mortality,” Movahed said.

His new study found that deaths from broken heart syndrome were relatively stable from 2016 to 2020 — a sign that the current treatment landscape isn’t sufficient, he said.

But Wittstein said the study relied on diagnostic codes given to hospitalized patients, which can sometimes miss the full picture of what contributed to a person’s death, especially if that person had a stroke or other neurological issue.

“I’m quite sure that some of these people recovered from the broken heart syndrome and then died of complications of something else,” he said.

Cardiologists said their best advice is to encourage patients to go to the hospital if they have chest pain or shortness of breath, and not to dismiss their symptoms as stress.

“You can’t tell the difference between this and traditional heart attacks until you get to the hospital and have a series of tests,” Reynolds said. “So it is not appropriate to stay home when you have chest pain.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More on NBC News:

• FDA moves to take prescription fluoride drops and tablets for kids off the market
• ‘Thicket of red tape’ for Medicaid in GOP bill sparks fears of coverage losses
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Cassie takes stand for second day of testimony in Sean ‘Diddy' Combs trial

Warning: The video above and story below contain graphic content.

The R&B singer Cassie returned to the witness stand Wednesday after a day spent recounting grotesque and humiliating details of life with her ex-boyfriend, Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, was being questioned by the prosecution in Combs’ sex trafficking trial. Combs’ lawyers were expected to begin their cross-examination of her later in the day — their opportunity to challenge her credibility or poke holes in her accounts of what happened.

During her first day of testimony on Tuesday, Cassie described being pressured into multiday sexual encounters with paid sex workers while Combs watched and gave directions. She also recounted being beaten numerous times by Combs when she did things that displeased him — like smiling at him the wrong way.

“You make the wrong face and the next thing I knew I was getting hit in the face,” she said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson picked up where she left off on Tuesday, asking Cassie about video images of Combs beating her at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

More coverage

Sean "Diddy" Combs May 13

‘Stomp me in the head': Diddy's ex-girlfriend Cassie testifies about abuse, ‘freak offs'

The video, played in court for a fifth time Tuesday, shows Combs hitting, kicking and attempting to drag Cassie back to their room. She testified it happened as she was leaving one of the sex parties that Combs called “freak offs.” After the footage was leaked last year, Combs apologized.

The “freak offs” took place in private, often in dark hotel rooms, unlike Combs’ very public White Parties in the Hamptons that attracted A-list celebrities.

Cassie accused Combs of gaining her submission by threatening to publicly release videos of her with male sex workers, and she feared more violence if she refused his demands.

Combs’ attorneys have acknowledged Combs could be violent but maintain that the sexual acts were consensual. They say nothing he did amounted to sex trafficking or racketeering — the charges that he faces.

The trial is expected to last about two months.

Prosecutors have accused Combs of exploiting his status as a powerful music executive to violently force women into drugged-up sex parties.

Cassie met Combs in 2005, when she was 19 and just at the start of a career as a singer, model and actor. She had a hit song, “Me & U,” in 2006 off an album released by Combs’ Bad Boy Records.

Combs, who was 37 when they met, nurtured her career early on and also became her boyfriend for a decade.

Cassie left Combs’ record label in 2019 and then sued him in 2023, accusing him of years of physical and sexual abuse. The suit was settled within hours but dozens of similar legal claims followed, sparking the criminal investigation against him.

She told jurors during her testimony Tuesday that there were loving moments during their relationship but that Combs was always controlling and often violent.

Cassie said she was 22 when Combs first asked her to do a “freak off” sexual encounter, with the first one occurring in his Los Angeles home with a male stripper. It left her feeling dirty and confused, but relieved that Combs was happy, she said.

“It was his fantasy,” she said. “He was controlling the whole situation. He was directing it.”

Combs, 55, has been jailed since September. He faces at least 15 years in prison if convicted.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.

Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.

Boy swept away and school evacuated in floods as fallen trees block DC-area roads

A 12-year-old was swept away by floodwaters in Virginia, 200 people were rescued from a flooded school in Maryland and toppled trees are blocking D.C.-area traffic Wednesday after rain inundated the region.

The boy remains missing after disappearing when a creek overflowed Tuesday in Albemarle County.

Someone called 911 about 5:30 p.m. to report that the boy was swept away by rushing water on a road. Officials called off the search after three hours, when it got too dark to see, but crews are set to restart the search in the Crozet area, which is off Interstate 64 near Charlottesville.

Public schools in Allegany County, Maryland, are closed Wednesday, one day after rescuers in boats rescued students and staff from an elementary school.

Images posted by the Cumberland Police Department showed muddy brown floodwaters filling a street, reaching halfway up the height of several parked cars.

Flood warnings are in effect for many parts of the region. Remember: If you’re driving and encounter a flooded road, turn around. Don’t drown.

Reagan National Airport got 1.5 inches of rain, and some areas got 2-3 inches in our wettest day since the remnants of Hurricane Helene blew in last fall. The worst flooding inundated areas west of D.C. More than 5 inches of rain was reported in the Allegany County city of Frostburg.

Boats used to evacuate flooded elementary school in Maryland

Students and staff at a western Maryland elementary school were evacuated via rescue boats amid severe flooding and heavy rain, Allegany County officials said.

The water level was beginning to breach the second floor of Westernport Elementary School with about 150 students and 50 adults inside. First responders made about 15 rescue boat trips to get everyone out safely, authorities said.

Students at George’s Creek Elementary were also evacuated on Tuesday. Waters were still high in the George’s Creek area on Wednesday morning, the Allegany County Department of Emergency Services said.

Allegany County emergency services and multiple other agencies, including at least one from the D.C. area, are responding to western Maryland to help with flooding in the region. Montgomery County Fire & EMS (MCFRS) is sending six swift water personnel and two boats, following a request from Maryland Department of Emergency Management, an MCFRS spokesperson said.

Read more here.

Storms could strike DC area on Wednesday night

Most of the rain Wednesday morning is on the Maryland side of the Potomac and heading into Pennsylvania. This should leave the D.C. area with a break in the rain that will last from mid-morning into mid-afternoon.

During this lull, there may even be a few breaks of sunshine that will help get temperatures into the mid-70s.

Sunshine could fuel thunderstorms between 5-11 p.m. Those storms will die down by midnight with overnight lows hovering in the low 60s.

Dallas Cowboys to present America's Stream: Countdown to Schedule Release

The Dallas Cowboys have announced the release of America’s Stream, presented by SeatGeek.

According to the Cowboys, ahead of the 2025 NFL schedule release, the livestream will feature Micah Parsons, CeeDee Lamb, Osa Odighizuwa, and Tyler Smith taking on challenges, activities, conversations, and interviews with guests.

Cowboys officials said fans can watch the full live stream with no commercial interruptions on Wednesday beginning at 1 p.m.

The event will be co-streamed on the Dallas Cowboys and Micah Parsons’ YouTube channels.

How to watch America’s Stream: Countdown to Schedule Release

Dallas Cowboys Channels:

• Dallas Cowboys YouTube
• Dallas Cowboys X
• Dallas Cowboys Website
• Dallas Cowboys Mobile App
• Dallas Cowboys Cowboys Now App

Co-streams:

• Micah Parsons YouTube Channel
• Micah Parsons Twitch Channel

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Live updates: President Trump arrives in Qatar after meeting with Syrian leader

President Donald Trump is in Qatar as he continues his four-day trip to the Middle East. Follow along for live updates.

Chimps use medicinal plants to treat their wounds

Wild chimpanzees have been observed self-medicating their wounds with plants, providing medical aid to other chimps and even removing others from snares left by human hunters, new research suggests. 

The behaviors — which are documented in a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Evolution and Ecology on Wednesday — provide new clues about the origin of medical care in humans. 

The study combines historical data and about eight months of new observations, including many captured on video and in photos. It provides added evidence that our closest living relatives will chew plants and apply makeshift poultices to wounds, clean other animals’ wounds by licking them, and use leaves for a hygienic scrub after sex or defecation. Chimps were also seen pressing wounds and dabbing medicinal leaves to wounds. 

The results, particularly as they provide evidence that chimpanzees who are not kin care for one another, add new fuel to the debate over whether humans are the only species capable of providing prosocial, or altruistic, care to others. 

“One of the things humans have clung onto is that we’re this very special species, because we are capable of altruism and we’re capable of empathy,” said Elodie Freymann, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford and the first author of the study. “Animals are helping each other out. They’re capable of identifying others in need and then addressing those specific needs.” 

Chimpanzees and bonobos, another primate species, are the closest genetic relatives to humans. The study adds to a growing body of research that suggests the concept of health care could have evolved millions of years ago, before humans were a species. 

“It’s likely that our shared common ancestor also would have been capable of these care behaviors as well,” Freymann said.

A growing body of research suggests other animal species might self-medicate, with varying levels of sophistication. Elephants, for example, have been shown to consume leaves used for medicinal purposes by humans, and some researchers suggest the animals are addressing specific needs, like digestion.

The volume of research into animal medication behaviors is increasing and outside researchers said this is important evidence that could open a window into our humanity’s past.  

“In our ancestors, we have examples of health care in humans since Neanderthals or even before, but what’s very interesting is that we still don’t understand fully how these kind of exploratory behaviors evolved,” said Alessandra Mascaro, a primatologist and doctoral candidate at Osnabrück University in Germany, who was not involved in the paper. “We are just scratching the surface.”

In 2022, Mascaro published a study showing that chimpanzees in Gabon applied insects to their wounds, and she hopes more observations will help determine how the animals developed that behavior.

Studying chimpanzee medication behaviors is challenging work because the behaviors are relatively rare.

In this study, Freymann spent two four-month periods in the Budongo Forest in Uganda, following wild chimpanzees familiar enough with human researchers that they’ll ignore their presence. It can be physical and demanding to follow chimps.

“There can be days where you’re just sitting at the base of a tree while they eat for eight hours, and there can be days where you’re hacking through vines and crossing rivers and stuck in clay pits — your day is completely determined by what the group feels like doing,” said Freymann, who would take notes about what the chimps ate, if they were sick or injured and how the animals interacted.

Freymann observed several instances of chimpanzee care behaviors during her field work. She also came across a historic logbook of observations kept at the research field site, which featured instances that didn’t fit into previous research studies. She found patterns of medical care that dated back into the 1990s.

“When people pool their results and their observations, you can start seeing these amazing stories kind of come into view,” she said.

Between her own observations, the logbook and additional data sources, Freymann documented 41 cases of wound care in chimpanzees, including 34 incidents of self-care and seven of care for others, the study says. Four instances of care for others involved animals that were not closely related. 

“The findings show that some types of prosocial behavior towards nonkin may be more widespread than previously thought,” said Isabelle Laumer, a primatologist and cognitive biologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany, who was not involved in the new research. “More detailed investigation is needed.”

Mascaro, who researched the health behavior of chimps in Gabon, said the new research in Uganda showed that chimps in different geographies exhibited medical care behaviors, which bolsters confidence that the behavior is common across the geography of the species.  

“We didn’t know much about the chimpanzees on that side of Africa,” Mascaro said. 

Self-medication has been documented in other primates. Laumer published a study last year showing an orangutan in Indonesia repeatedly chewing leaves and applying the material to a wound on its face to heal a wound received in a fight. The plant the orangutan used to medicate is not usually eaten by the species, but it is known to humans as a pain reliever.

This line of research, broadly, suggests that primates are capable of finding and determining the medicinal value of plants. 

“Chimpanzees rely on the forest, not just for food, and not just for shelter, but really as a medicine cabinet,” Freymann said, adding that it’s important to preserve the forest resources primates depend upon.

She added that humans likely learned from these creatures and evolved a sense for medicinal plants in the past. And she suggested that pharmaceutical companies could use these animals’ knowledge to identify useful medical resources in the future. 

“If we want to hone in on these amazing medicinal resources, watching and learning from the animals is an incredibly effective way to do it if it’s done ethically and responsibly,” Freymann said.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• NASA’s Webb Space Telescope captures bright auroras on Jupiter
• Chimpanzees use some features of language to talk to each other
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Police Oversight Board to draft letter to Dallas Chief concerning immigration enforcement

The Dallas Community Police Oversight Board said it wants answers on a statement made by the city’s new police chief concerning immigration. There was a lengthy discussion Tuesday night during the oversight meeting as board members looked for clarification from Chief Daniel Comeaux on his stance.

In late April, the newly sworn-in chief said his officers, if asked, would assist federal authorities. Community oversight board members said the statement has many of their constituents concerned about the potential role police officers might play in immigration enforcement.

On Tuesday night, the board said it expects a letter from Chief Comeaux in the coming days clarifying his statement.

In the meantime, the board plans to draft a letter of its own to be sent to both the chief and city manager, on its expectations and concerns around immigration enforcement.

“It’s important that we get a handle on it now and that we get a clear line of communication with the Dallas Police Department. We understand what they’re going to do, they understand how we feel and what we expect of them,” said board member Brandon Friedman.

Earlier this year, Interim Chief Micheal Igo cleared up a statement he made, saying Dallas police would not “stop or contact any person for the sole purpose of determining immigration status and are permitted, but not required, to ask about the immigration status only of those persons who are lawfully detained or arrested.”

He cited a general order that has been in place since 2017.

The oversight board voted Tuesday to draft a letter in a subcommittee, agreeing on its content, before handing it over to Chief Comeaux.

At the time of his tenure as interim chief, Igo said Dallas police had not been asked by state or federal law enforcement to participate in any official immigration enforcement efforts, but that they had assisted agencies in arresting people who were wanted for a criminal offense, regardless of their immigration status.

Fort Worth ISD would close A-rated school campus, when district is at risk of takeover

Gathered together in bright blue school caps, parents from Fairmont’s De Zavala Elementary School made their case against Fort Worth ISD’s plan to shut down their school in 2027.

“We were told by the district no decisions to close De Zavala would be made anytime soon. That does not seem to be the case,” said one parent.

De Zavala scored an A on the latest TEA A–F ratings. It was one of the few A-rated schools in Fort Worth ISD. The district is at risk of state takeover for having too many failing schools.

The district said building conditions and enrollment, not academic performance, drove the decision-making process. Parents at this high-performing school want to know why.

“We need you to have a proven, demonstrated plan to make A-rated schools, before closing A-rated schools, because having A-rated schools should matter to you deeply,” said one mother. “I need you to prove to me Dr. Molinar’s plan will work before you take away our access to high-quality education.”

De Zavala is scheduled to close in 2027 alongside Pate, Stevens, and McDonald elementary schools. It’s part of a tiered strategy that would close 18 schools, mostly elementary, over the next five years. Based on current enrollment projections, Fort Worth ISD expects to lose about 1,000 students next year, with further declines anticipated.

“Big things are going to have to change. You’re going to have to make hard decisions, and this is one of those hard decisions you’re going to have to make. But when a school has too few students, it doesn’t have the resources to do all the things we want to do for our kids,” said Pete Geren, former congressman.

District leaders and board members have been meeting with parents across Fort Worth this year, looking for the best way to respond to aging school buildings, falling enrollment, and tight budgets. Still, many parents couldn’t understand why academic ratings weren’t considered, especially with a potential TEA takeover looming.

“This is a school that works. I need you to leave this school alone,” said one father.

If buildings are closed, they will likely be sold, providing some revenue for the cash-strapped district. However, charter schools—Fort Worth ISD’s biggest competitors—have the first right of refusal to open new schools in those buildings.

The board is weighing charters in its decision and is expected to vote next week.