Fresno Unified Area 1 candidates split on school closures as district faces 4,000-student enrollment drop — AI-generated illustration
Fresno Unified Area 1 candidates split on school closures as district faces 4,000-student enrollment drop
Five candidates vying for Fresno Unified’s Area 1 school board seat are staking out different positions on whether the district should close schools to address declining enrollment and budget shortfalls — a decision that could reshape neighborhoods across southwest Fresno.
The district has lost roughly 4,000 students over the last decade and projects losing another 4,000 in the next few years. Last year, the board cut 450 positions to close a budget gap. Now, trustees are forming a working group to navigate conversations about enrollment decline, boundary changes, and potential school closures — discussions expected to intensify after the November election, which could seat as many as three new board members.
Four of the district’s ten lowest-enrollment elementary schools are in Area 1, the Edison region: Lowell, Kirk, Jefferson, and Susan B. Anthony Elementary, each serving fewer than 400 students. Lincoln Elementary saw one of the steepest enrollment drops districtwide, losing 64 students between the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years.
Miguel Arias, a Fresno City Councilmember running for the seat, opposes any neighborhood school closures, calling them a consequence of “financial mismanagement of the district.” He said bond funds should go toward facility repairs and specialty programs to attract students, and that the district should eliminate central office space acquired before it considers closing schools.
“The district office and its trustee of the Edison region have absolutely run the school district to the ground and have put us put the community in a place where we now have to debate potential school closures,” Arias said. He urged voters to “pay very close attention to this election because the consequences will include closure of neighborhood schools if we don’t intervene now.”
Daren Miller, a former K-12 administrator and current substitute vice principal, said closures would be “unfortunate” but could let the district reshape schools into traditional grade configurations — one through five for elementary, six through eight for middle school — or divide sites further, with some serving transitional kindergarten through second grade to focus entirely on early childhood education.
“We could reduce our class sizes because we’ll have the space to be able to do that, so we can lower our class sizes to 21 to 25 because the space would be available,” Miller said. “I do believe that closing schools or closing anything that has to do that is a negative, but I also think that it provides an opportunity for long-term success.”
Deshunna Ricks, an adjunct instructor at Fresno Pacific University and CEO of I AM Valuable, said closures should be a last resort and that students shouldn’t bear the consequences of decisions made by adults. She wants to scrutinize the district budget to ensure alignment with student outcomes.
“Programs that cannot demonstrate results and ineffective vendor contracts must be cut. The district office does not need more staff. Central office must learn to do more with existing resources, just as our school sites are expected to do,” Ricks said. She also called for transparency with community members and staff if closures are considered.
Riley Talford, a supervising juvenile correctional officer for Fresno County Probation and SEIU 521 Fresno County Chapter President, said closures shouldn’t be considered unless the district first analyzes whether student population has fallen below 30% of a school’s original design capacity, along with transportation and safety impacts. “Any thought of school closures must be met with rigorous analysis, community input, third party vetting of long term benefits vice short term gain of managed cuts,” Talford said.
Mirna García, a realtor involved in local housing initiatives, said the district needs to “think inversely” and listen to communities to figure out what investments would attract families. “That means listening to families, supporting educators, expanding programs students are excited about, improving academic outcomes, creating safe and welcoming campuses, and rebuilding trust with our community,” García said. She urged the district to identify why families are leaving.
Genoveva Islas, current president of the FUSD board of trustees and a candidate in a different race, said she opposes school closures and has previously pointed to scrutinizing the district’s investments in charter schools and their renewals.
Three Area 1 candidates — Rizpah Bellard, Valerie Davis, and Tiffany Steed — did not respond to requests for comment. Bellard’s and Davis’ campaigns do not address school closures, and Steed’s campaign website does not specifically address closures or mitigation strategies.
The Breakdown
- Fresno Unified has lost approximately 4,000 students over the last decade and projects losing another 4,000 in the coming years.
- The district cut 450 positions last year to address budget deficits and is now forming a working group to discuss enrollment decline, boundary changes, and potential school closures.
- Four of the district’s ten lowest-enrollment elementary schools are in Area 1: Lowell, Kirk, Jefferson, and Susan B. Anthony Elementary, each with fewer than 400 students.
- Lincoln Elementary lost 64 students between the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years, one of the steepest drops districtwide.
- Area 1 candidates range from opposing all closures (Arias, Islas) to viewing them as opportunities to reconfigure schools (Miller) to treating them as a last resort after budget scrutiny (Ricks, Talford, García).
- Three Area 1 candidates — Bellard, Davis, and Steed — did not respond to questions about school closures or have not outlined closure plans publicly.
What This Means for You
The Area 1 race features five candidates with different positions on school closures. Voters can consider how each candidate’s stated approach aligns with their priorities for the district.
What You Can Do
You can research all five candidates — Miguel Arias, Rizpah Bellard, Daren Miller, Deshunna Ricks, and Michelle Longoria — through their campaign materials and endorsements. Contact candidates directly to ask how they would vote on specific closure proposals if elected.
What to Watch
The material does not state how much money the district expects to save by closing schools, what the per-school cost of keeping a low-enrollment building open actually is, or which specific schools the working group will recommend for closure. Without those figures, there is no way to know whether closures would actually solve the budget problem or simply shift it. The working group itself is still being formed — the material does not name who will be on it, what authority it will have, or whether its recommendations will be binding on the board.
Why did 4,000 students leave Fresno Unified over the last decade, and where did they go? The material quotes candidates saying the district should investigate this, but does not state whether the district has done that analysis or what it found. If families left for charter schools, private schools, or other districts because of program cuts, safety concerns, or academic performance, closing more neighborhood schools could accelerate the exodus rather than stop it. The material does not document that the district has studied this feedback loop.
Four of Area 1’s elementary schools now serve fewer than 400 students each, but the material does not state what enrollment threshold the district considers financially unsustainable, or whether those four schools cost more per student to operate than larger sites. If the district closes small schools and redraws boundaries to consolidate students into fewer, larger buildings, how much farther will young children have to travel, and will the district provide transportation? The September board presentation cited in the material is not quoted or linked, so the reasoning behind the enrollment data is unavailable.
Three of the five Area 1 candidates did not answer questions about their positions on school closures. A voter in that region has no way to know how Bellard, Davis, or Steed would vote on a closure proposal unless they state it before the election.
