What's at stake?
The winning candidate will also inherit long-standing struggles in California’s third-largest district, including years of failing test scores on state reading and math assessments and balancing the district’s $2 billion budget amid fluctuating funding from the state.
In the most crowded Fresno Unified trustee field on the November ballot, incumbent Andy Levine faces two challengers in the race for the Fresno High seat.
Levine has only about half a term under his belt, after winning a special election to fill a vacancy left when the late Carol Mills passed away in office.
He’s taking on competition from Fresno County Board of Education member James Martinez, who’s racked up a number of influential endorsements (including from the district’s teachers union), and Emma Villa, a political newcomer and current homeschool educator with teaching experience in multiple Central Valley districts.
Here’s what to know about the Fresno High candidates’ backgrounds and policy positions in alphabetical order by the candidate’s last name.
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Where is Trustee Area 5?
Trustee Area 5 covers parts of the Tower District and the area surrounding Fresno High.
The district is roughly bounded to the north by Ashlan, to the south by Olive, to the west by Weber and to the east by Blackstone.
Andy Levine
Levine, 40, was first voted to represent the Fresno High area in a special election in April 2022.
In his day job, he’s a sociology instructor at Fresno State, as well as the co-director of the university’s Center for Community Voices. He’s also an adviser at the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission.
Levine’s an alum of Fresno Unified’s Edison High School. He went on to get his bachelor’s degree in sociology from University of California, Davis, and a master’s in sociology and education from Teachers College at Columbia University.
In his two years on the board, Levine said he’s proudest of his work to reverse high chronic absenteeism rates in the district and support the community schools model in Fresno Unified – two efforts that go hand-in-hand, in his view.
“Too often as a system, our schools asked, ‘why aren’t students or parents doing what we want them or expect them to do?’” he told Fresnoland.
“(A community school) flips that question … and asks, what aren’t we doing, as a school or as a district that is preventing and not allowing our students and parents to do the things that we know they’re able to do?”
At community schools like Fort Miller, data from the California Department of Education show chronic absenteeism took a 15-point dive between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years following partial implementation of the community schools model.
“Those investments have already led to reduction in chronic absenteeism,” Levine said.
How would he describe the ideal candidate for Fresno Unified’s next superintendent?
Levine’s looking for a candidate with a track record of improving academic achievement and who’s capable of making hard decisions instead of just “doing the things that we’ve always done.”
He said he’d been pushing “from day one” for a comprehensive, nationwide search for that ideal person.
“We have great candidates here, locally and internally,” he said, “but as the third-largest district in the state of California, I think we owe it to our students, our community, for them to know that we’ve left no stone unturned.”
The “number one priority with no close second” is finding the best person, Levine said, and he has no preference between an internal and external candidate.
But he hopes to hire someone who has an understanding of the Central Valley.
In a district where the majority are students of color coming from low-income families, he said hiring a superintendent who shares those lived experiences is also “an important thing, both symbolically and practically.”
What does he think of Interim Superintendent Misty Her’s goal of seeing 30-point gains in student test scores over the next two years?
“I think it’s absolutely the right goal for us to be shooting for double-digit gains,” Levine said.
The board can help achieve an ambitious goal like that, he said, by focusing on its “core function.”
“The feedback we’ve received … is that we’ve had too many initiatives and competing priorities,” he said, “things that are really good ideas, but are not necessarily the core of what our mission is and what we need to do as a system to prepare all our students for college and careers.”
One initiative Levine thinks is key to seeing these academic returns is the “Every Child Is A Reader” literacy plan, the district’s strategy to ensure all students learn to read by the end of first grade.
That’s “not going to just be successful on its own,” he said, “but it’s going to require all of us really leaning in.”
How would he help avoid another teachers strike?
Levine pointed to two things he said could help make negotiations with the teachers union smoother next time: getting an early start, and using “interest-based bargaining.”
Instead of traditional bargaining, which includes passing proposals back and forth across the table, interest-based bargaining instead asks both parties to identify mutual interests and draft contract language together.
Fresno Unified and the teachers union originally agreed to use interest-based bargaining in the last round of contract talks but reverted to the traditional method a few months before the union’s contract expired in June 2023.
Levine hopes the district and FTA make their way back to the interest-based bargaining to make negotiations more collaborative
Levine will enter November’s election having lost the endorsement of the teachers union to Martinez.
Despite that, he said he’s “confident in the role” he played in reaching a deal that was “commensurate with the role and the value of our teachers” but also fiscally sustainable for Fresno Unified.
The union isn’t backing any incumbents in the November election. It endorsed a challenger in the Hoover High School area race as well.
FTA president Manuel Bonilla told Fresnoland both Levine and Claudia Cázares – the other incumbent who lost the union’s backing this election – are “nice people” but that they weren’t proactive enough as trustees.
“Too many times, they only act reactively when there is public pressure to do so, as opposed to being proactive, having vision and taking action,” he said. “They would rather default to listening to outside consultants, as opposed to listening to the experts – in this case, we’re talking about classroom teachers or school nurses.”
Levine said losing FTA’s support won’t change his willingness to listen to the union’s concerns.
“As long as I’m in this role,” he said, “they have my commitment that I’m going to continue to work with them.”
What’s his approach to balancing the district’s budget?
Levine said the district’s academic return on investment system will be key to his approach when it comes to facing down budget shortfalls.
A process also backed by Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, the academic return on investment model tasks the district with collecting specific metrics to measure the effectiveness of programs and vendors the district enters contracts with to determine which are worth continuing to invest in.
“How is this going to lead to actual academic improvements?” Levine said. “Where we can’t quantify that or prove that, those are the ones that probably need to be at the start of the list of where we have to make some hard decisions.”
Levine’s hopeful that using the academic return on investment model will help keep budget cuts “outside the classroom.”
What’s his stance on the district’s $500 million bond measure on the November ballot?
Levine said the bond measure has his full support.
“The proposal is for a $500 million bond that is unfortunately, actually, just a small portion of what we know we need,” he said.
Past bond measures have funded needed improvements to campuses in the Fresno High area, he said, including renovations to Del Mar Elementary School and a new gymnasium and tennis courts for Fresno High School.
But he also supports a needs-based distribution plan for the funds, even if that means the funding goes to other trustee areas.
“Making sure that we are investing across our district in the facilities and schools that are in the most need is absolutely the right thing to do,” he said.
Where can I find more information about his campaign?
For more information about Levine and his campaign, he said voters can visit his campaign website, andy4fresno.com.
James Martinez
James Martinez, 38, is the current president of Fresno County Board of Education, after winning his seat in 2020.
In his day job, he works as an adviser to Fresno State’s student government, Associated Students, Incorporated.
Martinez is an alum of Fresno High School. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Fresno State and a master’s degree in communication from the University of Southern California.
While he had initially filed to run for reelection to the county board, Martinez told Fresnoland he was encouraged by some community members – including FTA – to run for the Fresno High seat.
Ultimately, it was the thought of his sixth-grade daughter that convinced him to run.
“After rounds and rounds of discussion … it dawned on me, after talking with my partner … our daughter is going to be attending Fresno High in two years,” he said. “That really tipped the scale for me.”
“It’s personal for me,” he said, not only as an alum, but as a future Fresno High parent.
How would he describe the ideal candidate for Fresno Unified’s next superintendent?
Martinez is looking for a candidate who “knows what our student population looks like” and “what their lived experiences are.”
Diversity is a critical factor as well, he said, especially when choosing someone for the helm of a district with a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.
He also wants a candidate who can work with educational partners including FTA and has “broad community support.”
At the same time, he said he’s a proponent of an expansive search.
“I’m a big supporter of promoting from within, but I also feel that it needs to be an open search, so a statewide and national search is necessary, just so that we do our due diligence in making sure that we recruit the most talented person that we can find.”
What does he think of Interim Superintendent Misty Her’s goal of seeing 30-point gains in student test scores over the next two years?
Martinez supports the ambitious goal, but emphasized that the district would “still be failing” even if they meet it.
“They’re promising to fail better next time,” he said. “That’s just unacceptable.”
He wants to push the district to examine root causes behind the achievement gaps, especially for Black and brown students.
“That’s really the theme of my campaign,” he said, “getting back to the basics of reading, math and writing, and closing those student achievement gaps in those areas, but also supporting music, athletics and arts. Those are equally as important.”
To improve achievement, Martinez said they need to pick the right superintendent – and work on getting buy-in from staff.
How would he help avoid another teachers strike?
Though he believes some degree of disagreement is healthy, Martinez said there’s a “huge disconnect between admin and teachers in general.”
“If you don’t bring the teachers and other support staff to the table and hear them out, that’s your greatest resource, right? You don’t need to hire a bunch of consultants,” he said. “You don’t need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for someone who doesn’t even live in the area and know the area.”
Martinez has received the teachers union’s endorsement over the incumbent Levine, who had union backing during his first campaign two years ago.
In terms of avoiding another near-teachers strike, Martinez said he wants to have ongoing conversations with the teachers union, and not just when the contract’s about to expire.
“It should not be necessary to come within hours of striking,” he said.
What’s his approach to balancing the district’s budget?
Martinez wants Fresno Unified to collect more data on the programs it funds to determine which ones are worth the money and which ones should be cut.
He added that the district is “very top-heavy” with administrators, and that when budget cuts are needed, Fresno Unified should determine which of those positions are really needed.
“It’s determining which positions could be consolidated and which positions we really need,” he said. “Not that I want anyone fired, I really don’t.”
What’s his stance on the district’s $500 million bond measure on the November ballot?
Martinez said that while he supports the bond measure as a means to addressing pricey facilities issues, he thinks the district needs to start showing progress on student achievement in order to earn taxpayers’ support.
“The return on investment, at the moment, just isn’t there,” he said.
In terms of how the district spends potential bond money, he said he’d support a needs-based plan.
“Schools that need the most resources should be invested in first,” he said, “because there are some schools that have been neglected for decades.”
Where can I find more information about his campaign?
For more information about Martinez and his campaign, he said voters can visit his website, martinez4fusd.com.
Emma Villa
Emma Villa is a homeschool teacher and advocate. She’s previously taught in districts around the Central Valley, including in Visalia and Porterville.
She received a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a multi-subject teaching credential from Fresno State. She also has a master’s in education administrative services from Fresno Pacific University.
She declined to share her age.
Villa told Fresnoland that she’s felt “ignored and dismissed” by the board in her past advocacy for the district’s students in special education.
She’s running to turn Fresno schools around – and uplift the community as a whole.
“Fresno Unified, I realize, is the heart of our community. If it is educating the next employers, the next workers in our community,” and they can’t read, she said, “they’re going to be impoverished.
“How are they going to buy houses? How are they going to rent, afford rent? We’re going to be more impoverished than we are right now, and there’s no reason for that.”
Villa also linked the district’s student achievement to addressing broader issues in the city, including housing.
“When we compare Fresno to Clovis, Clovis houses’ value are much higher because of the successful schools” she said.” Fresno homes are lower.
“It’s directly correlated to the success of the schools, and so it behooves us as a community to look at, how do we turn Fresno Unified around?”
How would she describe the ideal candidate for Fresno Unified’s next superintendent?
Villa wants a candidate with a proven track record of boosting academic achievement.
Because of that, she said she’d be wary of hiring an internal candidate.
“Obviously, you want to give everyone an opportunity to compete,” she said, “but I want to look at external (candidates). I think we need a change.”
As for the diversity of candidates, Villa said it would be “fantastic” to hire a woman or someone from a diverse background – but she wouldn’t prioritize that over finding someone who’s proven themselves as a leader on improving student outcomes.
What does she think of Interim Superintendent Misty Her’s goal of seeing 30-point gains in student test scores over the next two years?
Villa said Her’s goal is “wonderful” but lacks substance.
“That’s a lofty goal, but tell me how you’re going to do it,” she said, “because when I read your literacy plan, it’s not there. It’s not going to happen.”
Specifically, Villa said she’s skeptical there’s too much freedom in the plan for principals at individual campuses to decide the particulars of implementation, instead of aligning everyone districtwide on a consistent strategy.
In terms of ensuring academic gains, one of the most important roles trustees can play is in picking the right superintendent and holding them accountable, she said.
“If they’re not producing what we hired that superintendent to produce,” she said, “then we need to look again.”
How would she help avoid another teachers strike?
Villa said the district shouldn’t wait until the last minute to open contract talks with the teachers union, and should instead keep communication open.
“We shouldn’t have surprises,” she said. “We should know, on an ongoing basis, what it is that teachers want and need.”
Villa also said she’s concerned about what she described as a culture of retaliation that silences Fresno Unified teachers.
To change that, she said she wants to create a whistleblowing policy, “where teachers can come in and not be afraid.”
What’s her approach to balancing the district’s budget?
Literacy would always be a budget priority for Villa.
“We would not cut from literacy, and that would be a non-negotiable,” she said.
She was disappointed to see the cuts made to the special education funding in the last budget amid a $4.6 million dollar renovation for the Fresno Unified downtown education center, including the boardroom.
“That’s very telling of where their priorities are,” she said.
What’s her stance on the district’s $500 million bond measure on the November ballot?
Villa said the bond measure would only receive her support if the board comes up with a clear plan for how the funds would alleviate inequity in facilities across the district and boost literacy.
“If we want $500 million of funds from the taxpayers, we better have a good plan,” she said, “and we don’t have that yet.”
Where can I find more information about her campaign?
For more information about Villa and her campaign, she said voters can visit her Facebook page, Emma Villa for Fresno Unified School District Trustee Area 5.
Who is endorsing the candidates?
Andy Levine
- The Sheet Metal Workers Union, Local 104
- The Fresno, Madera, Kings & Tulare Counties Building and Construction Trades Council
- California State Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula
- Former Fresno Unified Trustee Nancy Richardson
- The Fresno Bee Editorial Board
James Martinez
- The Fresno Teachers Association
- The Fresno County Democratic Party
- Fresno City Councilmember Nelson Esparza
- Service Employees International Union Local 521
- State Center Community College District Trustee Richard Caglia
Emma Villa
- GoodParty.org, an organization that endorses independent candidates
Who is funding the candidates’ campaigns?
The Fresno Teachers’ Association PAC has infused tens of thousands of dollars into Martinez’ campaign since the summer – along with tens of thousands more of non-monetary contributions from canvassing. Candidate Emma Villa has not created a fundraising committee.
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