Two Visions for Fresno County Schools: Voters Choose Superintendent Tuesday
Fresno County voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide who will oversee more than 30 school districts and the students they serve. The race pits incumbent Dr. Michele Cantwell-Copher against former Clovis Unified Superintendent Dr. Eimear O’Brien — two educators with decades of experience and sharply different approaches to a shared challenge: more than half of Fresno County students are falling short on state tests.
Recent state test scores show 48% of Fresno County students meeting English standards and 36% meeting math standards. While scores are improving, the gap remains wide.
O’Brien has made literacy the centerpiece of her campaign, calling the county’s reading outcomes a crisis. “There are many schools and classrooms in Fresno County using the science of reading, but we need to scale it up as a county,” she said. She wants a countywide plan to train educators in phonics-based reading instruction.
Cantwell-Copher, who has held the office since January 2023, says her office is already making progress and wants to build on those gains. “The experiences for each of our students across different school sites can be very, very, vastly different. But there are some common practices and instruction and programs that yield better results. And so, my job has been to sort of harness all of the best practices,” she said.
Both candidates say they want to spend taxpayer dollars responsibly, but they frame the question differently.
O’Brien says she wants to take a hard look at how the county office uses its budget. “I want us to take a hard look at the programs we’re using the money for. I’ve seen what it looks like when the money is used to train… not just to train teachers — train administrators who are there to support and evaluate teachers,” she said.
Cantwell-Copher says she thinks about fiscal challenges less in terms of school budgets — “because frankly, I do that well” — and more about what those conditions mean for families. “Does that mean more students will come to school hungry? Today, we have to think intentionally about providing so that our students can do their job of learning in our schools,” she said.
The winner will lead an office responsible for overseeing district finances, ensuring state requirements are met, and providing support to schools and educators across a county home to over 200,000 students — including Fresno Unified, the third-largest school district in California.
The Breakdown
- The Fresno County Superintendent of Schools oversees more than 30 school districts, monitors district finances, ensures compliance with state requirements, and provides professional development and instructional support to schools and educators.
- Dr. Michele Cantwell-Copher was first elected in 2022. She worked at Central Unified as a principal and assistant superintendent, then spent 14 years at the Fresno County Office of Education before becoming superintendent.
- Dr. Eimear O’Brien taught for 20 years before becoming a high school principal and district superintendent. She led Clovis Unified from 2017 to 2023 and briefly served as interim superintendent at Central Unified in 2025. She came out of retirement to run for this office.
- O’Brien says the county is facing a literacy crisis and wants to implement countywide training in the science of reading, a phonics-based approach to early literacy. She says strong literacy is the foundation for all other learning.
- Cantwell-Copher says she has worked to strengthen trust between the county office and school districts, emphasizing partnership over auditing. She points to efforts including a Count Play Explore program for early math readiness and a data hub to help districts share information and track student progress.
- Cantwell-Copher is endorsed by Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni, the California Teachers Association, Fresno County Supervisor Buddy Mendes, Fresno City Councilmember Annalisa Perea, Fresno Chamber of Commerce, and mayors from Clovis, Mendota, and Kingsburg.
- O’Brien is endorsed by former Fresno County Superintendents Larry Powell and Jim Yovino, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp, Fresno County Assessor-Recorder Paul Dictos, and Fresno City Councilmembers Mike Karbassi and Tyler Maxwell.
What This Means for You
This is your vote to decide who will shape how taxpayer dollars support teachers, how districts work together on student achievement, and what priorities guide the county office’s relationship with local schools. If you have children in Fresno County schools, this office oversees the support their district receives — professional development for teachers, fiscal oversight, and coordination on instructional programs.
The difference between these two candidates is partly a question of emphasis — whether the county’s top need is a literacy-focused countywide plan, or a broader partnership model that lets districts share what’s working.
Your vote decides which vision governs that office for the next term.
What You Can Do
Polls are open Tuesday. If you are a registered Fresno County voter, you can find your polling location and ballot information at the Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters website.
What to Watch
O’Brien accuses Cantwell-Copher of not being “totally truthful with the community about the crisis we’re in,” but the material does not document what specific claim she says is untrue or what evidence contradicts it. That’s a serious charge — if a candidate is accusing an incumbent of misleading the public, a voter deserves to know exactly what the incumbent said and what the evidence actually shows. Without that, it’s hard to tell whether this is a real accountability issue or a campaign talking point.
Cantwell-Copher says she has been “particularly invested” in building a county data hub to help districts share information and make decisions together, modeled after a system in Kern County. The material does not say how much taxpayer money has gone into building that system, how many districts are using it now, or what specific decisions it has changed so far. If this is a centerpiece of her record, those are the details that would let a voter judge whether it’s delivering value or whether it’s a project that sounds good on paper but hasn’t proven itself yet.
The material names dozens of endorsements for both candidates — elected officials, former superintendents, law enforcement, business groups — but does not explain what any of those endorsers actually base their support on. An endorsement list tells you who likes a candidate; it doesn’t tell you why, or what they think that candidate will do differently. A voter trying to decide between two experienced educators needs to know what specific outcomes those endorsers expect, not just which names are on which side.
