As an Educate Texas founding leader with nearly 20 years of tenure, John played a pivotal role in transforming the initiative from the Texas High School Project, its original name, into a nationally recognized statewide intermediary. From its inception, Educate Texas has fostered collaborative public-private partnerships aimed at strengthening public education for all children in Texas.
“I am extremely proud of our many accomplishments and am grateful to the amazing Educate Texas team that has enabled our success,” said Fitzpatrick. “I leave with a great sense of pride and a deep appreciation for CFT trustees, our funders, and the numerous state and local leaders who embraced new ideas that have truly made a difference.”
“We are thankful for John’s unwavering commitment to improving public education in Texas,” said Richie Butler, Chair of Communities Foundation of Texas’ Board of Trustees. “His leadership has been instrumental in leveraging philanthropic funds to encourage innovation, which we have then scaled statewide through advocacy and programming.”
For over a decade, Educate Texas has collaborated closely with educators and administrators to empower students to realize their dreams and contribute to a thriving Texas. Highlights under John’s leadership include:
- Facilitating statewide public-private investments to expand Early College High Schools (ECHS) and Pathways in Technology Early College High School (PTECH) Academies in Texas from an initial goal of 15 campuses to a network serving over 121,000 primarily low-income African American and Latino students across approximately 540 campuses.
- Designing and scaling strategic teacher compensation systems, starting with the Best-in-Class philanthropic pilot in North Texas, which focused on increasing the number of effective, diverse teachers, and leading to the adoption of statewide public funding for the Teacher Incentive
Allotment (TIA) funds, which provided over $290 million for nearly 25,000 Texas teachers in over 480 school districts this year.
- Supporting the Rio Grande Valley through the creation of RGV Focus, the regional collective impact backbone, and transformative public-private investments in school districts, charter school networks, community colleges, and regional universities.
“We appreciate John’s extraordinary commitment to Educate Texas, and Communities Foundation of Texas is fully committed to continuing the work that has flourished under his leadership,” said Wayne White, President and CEO of Communities Foundation of Texas. “Education holds a central place among our priorities at CFT, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to supporting Educate Texas alongside other initiatives aimed at providing every Texas student with the high-quality education necessary for a successful adult life.”
Lochlin Partners, a national search firm with offices in Texas, has been retained to lead the search for a new Executive Director. Fitzpatrick will remain in his position through September and will provide additional support through the end of 2024 to ensure a smooth transition.
“Under John’s leadership, we have developed unique capabilities within Educate Texas that have had a positive impact on Texas students,” stated White. “While we are saddened by his departure, we hope you will join us in celebrating the tremendous legacy he leaves across the Texas education system and at CFT.”
