Two Superintendents Battle for Control of Fresno County’s 200,000 Students

Fresno County voters will choose between two veteran school administrators for county superintendent: incumbent Michele Cantwell-Copher, elected in 2022, and challenger Eimear O’Brien, who ran Clovis Unified for six years. Both have decades in county classrooms and admin offices. The winner oversees support for more than 30 districts serving over 200,000 students, including Fresno Unified, the state’s third-largest district.

The race centers on one fault line: how honest the county office has been about student performance. O’Brien’s campaign hinges on what she calls a “literacy crisis” the incumbent won’t acknowledge. Cantwell-Copher counters that she’s rebuilt trust between districts and the county office after years of the office acting “more referee or auditor rather than coach and partner.”

Both candidates point to Fresno County’s low literacy and math scores — a problem districts face statewide — but they split on what to do first. O’Brien wants the county office to push the “science of reading,” a phonics-heavy approach to early literacy, and says fixing reading by third grade determines a kid’s trajectory through school. “You can’t remodel your kitchen if the foundation is not solid,” she said. She didn’t outline a math plan, saying literacy has to come first.

Cantwell-Copher points to the Count Play Explore program, a statewide early-math initiative her office leads that targets kids from birth through third grade, and says she’s working to get districts sharing what works in math instruction. She’s also building a countywide data system modeled on Kern County’s — the Fresno County Data Hub — to track student progress toward graduation, college readiness, and A-G requirements. The hub is onboarding districts now; Cantwell-Copher says it will cover every district in one to two years.

O’Brien says she wants a similar data system, pulling from the different assessments districts already use — iReady, Orton-Gillingham — to give a uniform picture of how kids are doing on phonics and early reading skills across the county. She also wants to partner with local colleges to train new teachers in science-of-reading methods.

Cantwell-Copher served 14 years at the county office before being elected superintendent, plus nine years in leadership roles at Central Unified and two years at State Center Community College District. O’Brien taught for 20 years — a decade in Ireland, a decade at Maple Creek Elementary in Clovis — then climbed through Clovis Unified’s ranks to become superintendent in 2017, a job she held through 2023.

Cantwell-Copher’s backers include Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni, the California Teachers Association, County Supervisor Buddy Mendes, Assemblymember Brian Pacheco, Fresno City Councilmember Annalisa Perea, Clovis Mayor Vong Mouanoutoua, Mendota Mayor Victor Martinez, Kingsburg Mayor Brandon Pursell, and the Fresno Chamber of Commerce.

O’Brien’s endorsements include former county superintendents Larry Powell and Jim Yovino, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp, County Assessor-Recorder Paul Dictos, Clovis City Councilmember Matt Basal, and Fresno City Councilmembers Mike Karbassi and Tyler Maxwell.

The Breakdown

• The Fresno County Superintendent of Schools provides fiscal oversight and instructional support to more than 30 school districts, including Fresno Unified, the state’s third-largest.
• Cantwell-Copher’s platform: strengthen partnerships between the county office and districts, expand dual-enrollment and career-technical programs, build a countywide student-data system, and advocate to Sacramento for Fresno County’s specific needs.
• O’Brien’s platform: rebuild trust and transparency, focus on early literacy using science-of-reading methods, create a countywide system to track phonics and foundational reading skills, and be candid with the public about what’s working and what isn’t.
• The core disagreement: O’Brien says the county office hasn’t been honest about the “literacy crisis” facing Fresno County students. Cantwell-Copher says she’s spent four years rebuilding trust after the office was seen as an adversary rather than a partner.

What This Means for You

Your vote decides who sets the tone for how 30-plus school districts approach student achievement over the next four years — whether the county office pushes districts toward a specific reading method and calls out poor performance publicly, or acts as a behind-the-scenes partner sharing what works and building data infrastructure. The candidates differ in their approach to supporting districts and in whether the county office pushes district superintendents or collaborates with them.

What You Can Do

Research both candidates’ full platforms, endorsements, and campaign finance reports. Attend candidate forums if any are scheduled before the election. Contact your local school board to ask how they work with the county superintendent’s office and what they need from that relationship.

What to Watch

This race is being fought over transparency and trust, but neither candidate has put a number on what “low literacy and math proficiency” actually means for Fresno County students — what percentage of third-graders can read at grade level, how that compares to the state average, and whether it’s getting better or worse. O’Brien’s charge that the county office isn’t being “totally truthful” about a crisis only lands if voters can see the data she’s referencing; the material doesn’t provide it. Ask both candidates to release the specific proficiency rates they’re talking about, broken down by grade and district, so voters can judge the scale of the problem for themselves.

The Fresno County Data Hub that Cantwell-Copher is building will track graduation progress, college readiness, and A-G completion — all high-school outcomes. O’Brien’s proposed data system would track phonics and foundational reading skills in early grades. Neither system, as described, directly measures the “low literacy” both candidates say is the problem. What assessment will actually show whether a countywide reading push is working, who decides which one to use, and will that data be public? If the county office is going to tell districts what to do differently, voters need to see whether it works.

Cantwell-Copher says she wants to advocate to Sacramento for Fresno County’s “unique challenges” and “specific fears,” but the material doesn’t say what those are — what policy decision or funding formula she thinks shortchanges Fresno County compared to other parts of the state. Ask her to name the specific state policy she wants changed and the dollar figure or student outcome it would affect. If she’s running on being Fresno County’s voice in Sacramento, voters deserve to know what she’s asking for.

Finally, look at who’s funding both campaigns. The material says campaign finance documents show who donated and how much, but doesn’t provide the figures. A county superintendent oversees district budgets and contracts; knowing whether a candidate’s money comes from teachers’ unions, real-estate developers, charter-school groups, or individual donors tells you whose priorities they’ll protect. Request the finance reports from both campaigns and see who wrote the checks.