Fresno school board races draw too few candidates. This bill could fix that | Opinion
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- AB 1390 proposes raising school board pay to attract more qualified candidates.
- Low board pay contributes to unopposed races, limiting voter choice in elections.
- Fresno Unified backs the bill, citing 40+ hour monthly commitments by trustees.
Last fall, this Editorial Board lamented the fact that two races for the Clovis Unified School District board produced just one candidate each. That essentially froze voters from hearing candidates debate issues like school boundaries, use of school bonds or future growth.
One possible fix we proposed was increasing the pay for school board members to eliminate one-candidate races. “That might be OK with voters in small, rural school districts but it shouldn’t be that way in the state’s 12th largest school district with more than 43,000 students, a staff of about 5,200 and a budget of more than $992 million,” we wrote last September.
In Fresno County last fall, there were 91 races with only one candidate and 14 contests with two candidates running for two seats. Most of them were school board races.
Existing law caps the pay for governing board members at $1,500 per month for the largest school districts and is based on the average daily attendance for the prior school year.
Help is on the way in the form of Assembly Bill 1390, which passed the Assembly and is now awaiting a hearing by the state Senate Appropriations Committee.
Should the bill by Assemblymember José Luis Solache, D-Lynwood, pass and eventually get signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Fresno Unified School District trustee could earn $90,000 a year. Pay for Clovis school board members would go to $45,000 a year. Currently, Fresno board members earn about $24,000 a year; Clovis board members get $9,000 annually.
“Serving as a school board trustee is a demanding role that requires a great deal of time, research, training, public engagement, and commitment,” said Solache when he introduced the bill. “While the responsibility of our school boards has grown exponentially in recent years, the levels of compensation limits have not been adjusted to reflect this or take into account inflation.”
Better pay, he said, is needed to “help retain experienced board members and encourage more community members to consider running for vacant positions on local boards.”
That is exactly the point we made last fall. Better pay will result in more candidate interest in races. There is a total lack of democracy when a school board race for a district the size of Clovis fails to draw more than one candidate.
Clovis isn’t alone. There were 1,510 school board races in California in 2024, and in 851 races there was only one candidate running or no one running, according to EdSource. That is 56% of races that drew little or no interest.
Many trustees work 40 hours a month
The bill, which passed the Assembly on a 61-2 vote last month, has no opposition. Fresno Unified supports the legislation. Valley Assemblymembers Joaquín Arámbula, Esmeralda Soria and Jasmeet Bains, all Democrats, voted for the bill.
“The current limits make board service financially inaccessible to many capable community members,” said Fresno Unified Superintendent Misty Her in a letter to the Assembly. “This bill will not only help retain experienced and effective board members but also broaden the pool of candidates willing to serve.”
We believe in public service, but it can become more like a part-time or full-time job when a public official gets unfairly compensated for their investment of time researching, answering phone calls or visiting constituents. It makes sense that the people making decisions about school districts with multi-million dollar budgets and tens of thousands of students should be fairly compensated..
The National School Boards Association found in a 2020 study that in large school districts like Fresno and Clovis, nearly 40% of board members invest more than 40 hours a month. The association suggested school boards could draw more diverse candidates by increasing compensation, including health benefits.
“In some districts, the level of compensation makes it harder for individuals who are supporting themselves and their families to consider serving on a board,” said Solache. “While helping to ensure students and their families are represented in key decisions affecting their district and its schools, AB 1390 also preserves the public process that a board must currently follow to adjust its compensation levels.”
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Editorials represent the collective opinion of the The Fresno Bee Editorial Board. They do not reflect the individual opinions of board members, or the views of Bee reporters in the news section. Bee reporters do not participate in editorial board deliberations or weigh in on board decisions.
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This story was originally published July 10, 2025 at 12:23 PM.