What’s typically a low-key race for Fresno County Superintendent of Schools is gearing up to be a high-profile election in 2026 as the incumbent, Dr. Michele Cantwell-Copher, faces a challenger with substantial name recognition.

Cantwell-Copher’s opponent is Dr. Eimear O’Brien, the former Clovis Unified superintendent who reportedly is already drawing endorsements from some of the area’s political heavy-hitters.

One of the first to endorse O’Brien was Jim Yovino, the former Fresno County Superintendent of Schools who endorsed Cantwell-Copher in the three-person race in 2022.

Cantwell-Copher’s early endorsers include Dr. Allen Clyde, a longtime member and now president of the Fresno County School Board.

O’Brien’s early entry in the 2026 Fresno County schools superintendent race — GV Wire was the first to report that she was throwing her hat in the ring — marks the first serious challenge to a county schools chief incumbent in more than 20 years. In prior elections, either the incumbent ran without serious opposition or a hand-picked successor defeated less well-funded and less well-known candidates.

O’Brien, who recently wrapped up a short stint as Central Unified’s interim superintendent, says she’s running because of her passion for education and her desire to continue developing relationships among the county’s school districts and to help find solutions to the many challenges that Fresno County educators and families face.

“I recognize I’m a people person, and I love solving problems. And I’m passionate about elevating people around me,” O’Brien said in December after announcing her candidacy. “We have a lot of educational issues in this Valley and our superintendents need support and help. And I just know that I could be really good at that.”

Cantwell-Copher says she’s seeking another four years in office to continue ongoing efforts to boost kids and their education in Fresno County.

Related Story: Former Clovis Superintendent Says She’s Running for County Schools Chief

Cantwell-Copher’s Leadership Questioned

Office of Education staffers say there have been many changes since Cantwell-Copher took office in January 2023, and not all for the good.

Longtime staffers tell GV Wire that under Cantwell-Copher, morale has plummeted, employees are retiring in droves, units are being disbanded, reconstituted, and then disbanded again, and money is being wasted on rebranding, furniture, and new outdoors signs instead of on students.

The employees spoke on condition of anonymity because they fear losing their jobs.

Staffers say they are reluctant to respond to Office of Education surveys or to speak out on issues, out of fear that they may be targeted. Over the last two years, a workplace where you previously could hear laughter echoing through the central atrium is now mostly silent, they say.

Yovino says staff motivation and morale are key to providing the best services to students and their parents. “You have to have amazing staff that you care about and that you want to see them be successful. And when they’re successful, kids are successful,” he said. “See, it’s not a complicated formula.”

Yovino said that he stayed in close touch with his predecessor, Larry Powell, during his eight years in office, but “so far I have had virtually zero conversations with the current superintendent. So I can’t speak on any conversations I’ve had because I haven’t had any, and I think that says something in itself.”

Under Yovino the County Office of Education was more in the public eye, and he also worked hard to connect the county’s school districts, especially during COVID. But staffers tell GV Wire that Cantwell-Copher’s relationships with school districts are not strong.

Cantwell-Copher has been less visible that her predecessors, Yovino and Powell, as the face of the Office of Education, staffers say. Whereas Yovino and Powell were comfortable with public speaking, Cantwell-Copher apparently is less so. Support staffers now need to submit not only a speaking engagement form but also talking points and a script to Cantwell-Copher.

Cantwell-Copher declined an in-person interview with GV Wire but provided written answers to a series of questions about her accomplishments in the past two years, future goals, and other matters.

Click this link to read Q&A with Fresno County Schools Superintendent.

County-Level Superintendent and School Board

Many Fresno County residents likely aren’t aware that there is an elected county school superintendent as well as an elected county School Board, or what their roles are.

Fresno County is one of 53 counties in California where the county school superintendent is elected as are the county school board trustees. Superintendents are appointed in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Clara counties.

County school boards and superintendents are the link between the state Department of Education and local school districts. In addition, county school superintendents’ responsibilities include educating specific student populations, such as special education and disenfranchised youth, providing oversight of districts’ fiscal stability, providing direct services to smaller school districts, providing academic support and assistance to districts and schools, and reviewing school districts’ Local Control and Accountability Plans.

The School Board is responsible for hearing appeals to student disciplinary matters such as expulsions.

In Fresno County, the school board and schools superintendent oversee the juvenile courts school, Community School, and have chartered seven schools including CTEC High School, Clovis Global Academy, and Kepler Neighborhood School in downtown Fresno.

The Fresno County schools superintendent and Office of Education host numerous student competitions and demonstrations throughout the year, including the county spelling bee, history day, and science fairs.

In June, the County School Board approved a $254 million budget for the 2025-26 school year. That compares to Fresno Unified’s $2.3 billion budget and Clovis Unified’s $957 million budget for 2025-26.

First Two Years as County Schools Chief

In her written responses, Cantwell-Copher said her accomplishments over the past two years have included saving $2 million by addressing “operational inefficiencies” and shifting those funds into programs to support students.

She said the county Office of Education also has made “meaningful progress” in several other areas over the past two years, including providing school safety programs, developing a regional consortium Community Schools model, opening seven new wellness centers this year for a total of 12, and supporting the continued success of CTEC High School, a dual-enrollment career technical school.

But staffers and Yovino say some of the budget cuts have come at the expense of youth and the community. One example, they say, is the Kids Café 2019 that operated near the Office of Education’s downtown headquarters. Kids Café provided employment opportunities for young people with developmental disabilities and also gave community members an opportunity to interact with those young people and to learn more about them in conversations with Yovino.

The job training and experience aspect of Kids Café was important, Yovino said. “But even bigger than that, it was an opportunity for the community to say or ask the questions, you serve how many special needs kids? You have 3,000 kids in your program, 2,500, whatever the number was at the time. And so tell me about those programs. So it offered me many opportunities to be able to share with the community and have conversations simply about our special needs kids.”

County Still Lags State Average

Boosting student achievement, which Cantwell-Copher identified early in her tenure as the No. 1 priority for educators and the community as a whole, continues to be a work in progress.

In the past two years, Fresno County overall has not made progress on closing the gap with the state average on standardized test scores. The 2023-24 Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments, the most recent year available, tests students in grades 3-8 and 11.

Fresno County’s English language and math test results have improved since the COVID years, but in 2023-24 only 44.3% met or exceeded standards in English and only 32.2% met or exceeded standards in math. The state average for meeting or exceeding standards was 47% in English and 35.5% in math that year.

After her election Cantwell-Copher launched her 100-Day Plan, with a series of “action items.” Action Item 2.3 set a goal of identifying successful academic achievement efforts and then scaling them across the county.

“While there’s no single ‘most effective program’ that applies to every student or every district, we’ve focused efforts in several areas and are seeing strong momentum in multiple initiatives we are leading across the county and state,” Cantwell-Copher responded to GV Wire’s query.

The initiatives include expanding the use of Networked Improvement Communities that connect educators, district leaders, and community partners such as the Fresno County Department of Social Services, First 5, and the Public Defender’s Office, she said. There are now 16 NICs operating in the county, and the Foster Youth NIC received a Golden Bell Award this year, she said.

Cantwell-Copher said the Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools is expanding the number of Community Schools, in part through a $175 million grant. “So far FCSS is the only county office scaling Community Schools through this consortium model and we’re seeing great results,” she wrote.

She also points to the “Count, Play, Explore” state initiative that’s being led by her office with funding from the California Department of Education and State Board of Education. Fresno County has been leading the development of a free web app for families with children ages 0 to 8 that focuses on making math part of daily life through play, books, and conversations.

“So, while we haven’t declared one single ‘most effective’ program, we are scaling what works with multiple initiatives, and doing it in ways that are sustainable, data-informed, and grounded in the needs of our students and families,” she wrote.

Salary Questioned

One of the most public politically charged issues during Cantwell-Copher’s first two years was the School Board’s vote in December on raising her pay.

Unlike local school districts, the county School Board does not evaluate the county schools chief but does set the rate of pay.

Board President Clyde and Vice President Marcy Matsumoto in December advocated raising Cantwell-Copher’s salary in 2025 and again in 2026, a thorny issue for some who had questioned why Cantwell-Copher’s starting pay matched Yovino’s outgoing pay.

Clyde said Powell had drawn no paycheck, and then the board failed to do a salary survey when Yovino was first elected in 2014. So the board was playing catch-up when setting Cantwell-Copher’s salary, he said.

He said that the county Office of Education is in good shape financially, even with looming federal and state budget cuts for education, and he credits Cantwell-Copher’s leadership.

Clyde is the longest-serving member of the Fresno County School Board and has worked with the last four county school superintendents, including Cantwell-Copher. While some board members say they’re staying neutral in the race, Clyde is open about his support for her candidacy.

“Normally board members don’t take a stand, but I like our superintendent, and I have no problem being public about it,” Clyde said.