California school funding formula is unfair to Clovis Unified, board president says
Clovis Unified’s new board president Tiffany Stoker Madsen said the state should amend its school funding formula to allow districts such as Clovis to receive more funding.
California’s Local Control Funding Formula awards school districts more funding per pupil if they exceed certain thresholds of high-needs students. Clovis Unified is the only district in Fresno County that does not qualify for additional funding because its share of high-needs students, such as students from low-income families, English learners, and foster youth, falls below the 55% threshold.
Clovis Unified could receive $134 million additional funding if its per-pupil funding were the same as that of the Fresno Unified School District, according to Madsen. That’s funding that the district could use to raise teacher salaries or provide more student services, she said.
“I do think we have a role that we’re finding in Sacramento to advocate for school districts like us who don’t get the concentration dollars because the percentage of students receiving free [and reduced-priced] lunch is below 55%, we’re not enough to get those dollars,” Madsen said.
Madsen said one of her priorities is to join the funding allocation discussion in Sacramento and advocate for Clovis Unified.
“I think we have a role to advocate for our district to see if we can get more equitable funding. I think that will be a focus,” she said. “Other focuses are just to continue the good things that are going on in Clovis Unified.”
The district officials credited the stable economic condition to its careful planning and spending. But
Clovis Unified has long been critical of the state’s education funding allocation formula, which was implemented last decade. School officials say the district has so far avoided the big budget deficits other large California districts have faced since the pandemic because of careful spending and growing student enrollment.
But that doesn’t mean the district isn’t feeling a financial squeeze.
Despite the steady influx of housing developments within the district’s attendance boundaries continue to bring new families and kids to Clovis Unified, the district faces a deficit. For the fiscal year of 2025-2026, the Clovis Unified board adopted a $997 million budget with a $14.4 million deficit in the General Fund.
It was a planned deficit, according to Susan Rutledge, Clovis Unified’s assistant superintendent for business services. The deficit aimed to bring down the district’s reserve level from 17.76% to 15.44% to better serve students in special education, as well as to increase spending on employee benefits, Rutledge said in an earlier interview with The Fresno Bee.
“We’re a unique district in California; we’re actually a district that’s growing,” Madsen said. “But with growth comes challenges, and Clovis is known for feeling like a small community. So just making sure that we have the resources to continue to grow while maintaining the values that we were founded on, the Doc. [Buchanan] set up for us.”
Established in 1959 with the consolidation of Clovis Union High School and its six constituent elementary school districts, Clovis Unified’s student population grew rapidly over the years. In 2024, the district rose two spots to become California’s 12th-largest school district, with total enrollment surpassing 43,000 students. The same year, voters approved the ongoing investment of Measure A — a $400 million bond to improve district facilities — with a significant portion of the funds allocated to completing the construction of a new high school.
Terry P. Bradley Educational Center, which has so far cost $600 million to build, opened its doors to its first students from grades seven through nine in August 2025.
