Fresno Unified Misses Literacy Target by 5%, Two-Thirds of Schools Behind Goal

Fresno Unified fell short of its first-grade literacy goal for spring 2025-26. About 52% of sampled students hit proficiency on the iReady assessment — missing the district’s 58.7% target by 5.3 percentage points.

Two-thirds of the district’s 66 elementary schools didn’t make the cut. Only 22 schools met the literacy benchmark. Forty-four didn’t.

Superintendent Misty Her told the school board Wednesday the district is still headed the right direction, pointing to stronger kindergarten results from last year as a sign first-grade scores should climb when fall data arrives.

Advertisement

“I do want to remind the board and community that at the end of last year, we exceeded our kindergarten foundational skills assessment target of 62.5%, with 70% of our kindergartners meeting their foundational skills,” Her said.

The gap between schools is stark. Muir Elementary hit 88.6% proficiency among its 44 first-graders tested. Columbia Elementary landed at 25% out of 72 students.

Her highlighted Calwa Elementary as a success story — the school jumped from 50% iReady proficiency in 2024-25 to 64.5% this year, and its overall state test scores in English went from 24.6% to 45.2% in one year. Calwa runs a Spanish dual-language program where first-graders get 90% of instruction in Spanish.

The district’s long game: 80% literacy proficiency by summer 2030. Interim targets are set at 64% by June 2027, 69% by June 2028, and 74% by June 2029.

The board also reviewed Proposition 28 spending — state arts-education funding. Fresno Unified has hired 57.3 full-time positions since 2023 using Prop. 28 money and plans to reach 65 positions. For the current school year, the district spent $8.8 million on staffing and $10.4 million on materials. Next year’s estimated allocation: $13.8 million, with $8.9 million earmarked for staffing alone.

A parent coalition asked the board to ban around 50 pesticides and chemicals used on school sites — 35 of which are banned in other countries, according to Kristina Holmes-McIntyre of the Fresno Community Parent Coalition. She thanked district leadership for listening but pressed for clearer pesticide notifications to parents and a digital form for requesting application records.

Meg Wunder, a library tech at Rowell Elementary, asked the board to replace a 55-year-old HVAC system in the school library. She said the system is so old that maintenance workers have to fabricate parts because the machines aren’t made anymore. Books are growing mildew.

Rowell was renovated in the early 2000s with Measure K funds, but the library HVAC didn’t get touched. Fresno Unified got over $700 million in federal pandemic relief in 2021 and committed to HEPA filters in every classroom — a year later, none had been installed, even during wildfire season.

The Breakdown

• 52% of sampled first-graders met literacy proficiency on the iReady assessment, missing the district’s 58.7% spring target by 5.3 percentage points.
• 22 out of 66 elementary schools met the district goal; 44 didn’t.
• District targets for future years: 64% by June 2027, 69% by June 2028, 74% by June 2029, 80% by June 2030.
• Proposition 28 arts funding: $8.8 million spent on staffing this year, $10.4 million on materials; next year’s allocation estimated at $13.8 million.

What This Means for You

The Fresno Unified school board sets the literacy targets, approves the budget allocations, and oversees whether the district actually delivers. This report shows two-thirds of schools aren’t hitting the mark. Your vote for school board trustees determines who’s accountable for closing that gap — and for deciding whether a 55-year-old HVAC system that’s growing mold on library books is worth fixing now or later.

Prop. 28 funding is state money for arts education. Whether Fresno Unified hires the staff or buys the materials it says it will is on the board to track.

What You Can Do

Fresno Unified school board meetings are open to public comment. The next meeting schedule is posted at fresnounified.org. The Fresno Community Parent Coalition is asking for clearer pesticide notifications and a digital request form — contact the district to add your voice.

What to Watch

$13.8 million in Prop. 28 arts funding next year, with $8.9 million going to staffing — that’s two-thirds of the total on payroll. The real question: does hiring arts staff actually result in more arts instruction for students, or does it pad district headcount without changing what happens in classrooms?

The literacy miss isn’t catastrophic — 52% vs. 58.7% — but it’s also not a one-off. Scores are climbing “at a slower pace,” and two-thirds of schools didn’t make the target. The superintendent’s framing leans on last year’s stronger kindergarten results, but that’s a prediction, not a fact. Watch whether fall first-grade scores actually reflect that optimism or whether the gap stays stubborn.

Rowell Elementary’s 55-year-old HVAC system growing mildew on books while the district sits on unused pandemic relief commitments (HEPA filters that never showed up) is exactly the kind of maintenance neglect that compounds over time. One library tech asking the board to fix it doesn’t mean it gets fixed — watch whether that request gets buried or budgeted.