Voters have backed more than $1 billion in Fresno Unified construction bonds since 1995 in the belief that new and updated facilities would enhance student learning.

However, the record shows this investment has not significantly improved student achievement or fulfilled the district’s goal of graduating high percentages of young men and women ready to succeed in college or the workplace.

The fact is, Fresno Unified remains one of the lowest-performing school districts in the nation.

The reasons for this startling lack of success are complex and many.

The extreme poverty in some Fresno neighborhoods creates big barriers to learning. A union contract that rewards veteran teachers with the perk of picking their assignments robs students from impoverished homes of the chance to be taught by many of the best instructors.

Finally, there’s the overarching reason for Fresno Unified’s long struggles: A complete failure by the School Board to put students first by holding superintendents, other top administrators, and teachers accountable for educational achievement.

25 Years of Preserving the FUSD Bureaucracy

The community has sent loud messages to district leaders over the past 25 years that the status quo was unacceptable.

The first attempt was then-Mayor Alan Autry’s partially successful attempt to remake the school board with a slate of candidates backed by other elected officials and business leaders. In 2005, the district began adopting the community-authored Choosing Our Future blueprint into its operating model.

Sadly, both of those ambitious reform efforts collided with Fresno Unified’s No. 1 goal — preserving the bureaucracy at all costs.

Earlier this year, the community rose up again and demanded that the School Board conduct a nationwide search for a new superintendent instead of hiring from the district’s ranks.

That the School Board majority believed it could get away with business as usual was shocking in its audacity. Thankfully, the School Board president and community members applied sufficient pressure to force a national search on a 4-3 vote.

Measure H Mirrors the District’s Incompetency

The district still doesn’t have a permanent successor to the retired Bob Nelson and yet the School Board wants voters to pass the $500 million Measure H construction bond that will significantly raise property taxes.

A competent school district would time and size its bond proposals so that upon voter approval the tax rate is extended but doesn’t rise.

In Fresno Unified’s case, the School Board is asking to add another $1.3 billion in bond debt — the estimated final cost of Measure H —to five previously passed bonds, the earliest of which expires in 2027. If Measure H passes, taxpayers will pay for the bonds through 2065 without any guarantee today of reform leading to improved educational outcomes.

Just like the bungled initial attempt to find a new superintendent, the Measure H projects list was haphazardly and hastily assembled before receiving slight last-minute adjustments. The lack of professionalism and backroom politics in the Measure H effort should be obvious to all.

Warning: Cast a critical eye on any Measure H propaganda you see or hear. After all, this is the district that declares on its website “Fresno Unified School District is proud to set the standard for academic achievement in the ever-growing Central Valley.”

The best way for Fresno Unified voters to end business as usual once and for all is by soundly rejecting Measure H.

— Bill McEwen