Published
4 years agoon
Fresno’s future depends on Fresno Unified School District. Its 74,000 students are the biggest part of our future workforce.
In fact, what happens at Fresno Unified sometimes is more important than the decisions made at City Hall.
The good news is, in recent years, thanks to the state’s Proposition 55 income tax on high earners, the district has gotten its financial house in order. In fact, it is flush with cash, with a budget of more than $1 billion dollars and more than $86 million in reserves.
Our English Language Learners aren’t progressing as quickly as they should, and this baffles me. We should be one of the very best districts in the nation in helping our students achieve proficiency.
Related Story: Fresno Unified Must Make Special Ed a Priority. Not an Afterthought.
No one is asking Fresno Unified leaders to do the impossible. Look at Florida’s Miami-Dade, the nation’s fourth-largest school district. It went from worst to first in student achievement in a few short years after hiring a change-agent superintendent, Alberto Carvalho.
If staff, teachers, principals, trustees, and Superintendent Nelson work together as a team, and embrace change agents instead of nullifying them, we can duplicate the Miami results in Fresno.
This district should know that the community is rooting for its success and is fully supportive of positive efforts to help our students. But also know that, after decades of accepting mediocrity from Fresno Unified, many in the community will hold the district’s leadership team accountable if it doesn’t succeed.
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