Fresno Spends $3.6 Million to Place Officers in Central Unified Schools
The Fresno City Council authorized a three-year, $3.6 million contract with Central Unified School District to station six police officers and one sergeant at district schools. The agreement, passed June 27, 2024, places officers at two high schools, an alternative education high school, and three middle schools — Central High East, Pershing Pathway, El Capitan, Rio Vista, Glacier Point, and Justin Garza High School.
Central Unified will reimburse the city $1,198,794 annually — covering 95% of the cost for six full-time officers, 20% of a supervising sergeant’s salary, seven patrol vehicles, and administrative fees. The contract includes an option for a two-year extension.
The officers will serve as Student Resource Officers, assigned full-time to campus. Chief of Police Paco Balderrama requested the authority to sign the agreement and related documents.
The Breakdown
- Central Unified reimburses Fresno police $1.2 million per year for officers stationed at six schools
- Six officers work 95% of full-time; one sergeant oversees them at 20% of full-time
- The district pays for seven patrol vehicles and administrative costs
- The three-year contract runs through 2027 with a possible two-year extension to 2029
What This Means for You
The Fresno City Council voted to approve this contract, assigning six officers and one sergeant to Central Unified schools. Central Unified will reimburse the city $1,198,794 annually under the three-year agreement.
What to Watch
The school district gains dedicated police presence under this arrangement. The contract provides the police department with $1.2 million annually in reimbursement from Central Unified.
The contract does not state whether incidents handled by these officers result in juvenile citations, arrests, or referrals to the justice system at higher rates than schools without dedicated police.
It does not state whether Central Unified tracks the demographics of students these officers interact with, or whether those interactions differ by race. That data would show how the program functions in practice.
The material does not say what patrol areas or neighborhoods are affected by assigning these positions to the district.
Why does the sergeant work only 20% time while overseeing six full-time officers across six schools? That ratio raises the question of how closely the program is actually supervised. The material offers no answer.
