{"id":683111,"date":"2026-05-21T01:03:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T01:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/683111\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T01:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T01:03:13","slug":"dyer-laces-up-his-boxing-gloves-for-pivotal-fresno-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/683111\/","title":{"rendered":"Dyer Laces Up His Boxing Gloves for Pivotal Fresno Elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

With about 30 months remaining as Fresno mayor, conventional political wisdom suggests that Jerry Dyer should stay the course, shore up any splintering relationships, and project supreme confidence that everything in our city runs like a finely tuned machine.<\/p>\n

But political reality has changed the equation, and Dyer has come out swinging. The headline is that the mayor put a bull\u2019s-eye on Fresno Unified test scores<\/a> \u2014 something he should have done five years ago \u2014 while endorsing former Clovis Unified Superintendent Eimear O\u2019Brien<\/a> in what appears to be a competitive race for county superintendent.<\/p>\n

However, Dyer also has endorsed in three of the four Fresno City Council races. With three open seats on the June 2 primary ballot, this is Dyer\u2019s \u2014 and voters\u2019 chance \u2014 to give the green light to projects that will move the city forward and a red light for initiatives that are a waste of time and money.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nDyer\u2019s City Council Endorsements<\/p>\n

Who has Dyer endorsed? Robert Fuentes in District 1, Danielle Parra in District 5, and Nav Gurm in District 7. Dyer hasn\u2019t endorsed in District 3, where Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula is the presumed leader, but he told GV Wire\u2019s Edward Smith on Wednesday that an endorsement could come for the November general election. As there are seven candidates in that race, a runoff is likely.<\/p>\n

Nothing is guaranteed in politics and all of Dyer\u2019s picks are squaring off against strong challengers. Perhaps Dyer\u2019s most consequential endorsement went to Parra, who is trying to knock incumbent Brandon Vang out of office. This week, Dyer backed up that by donating $5,900 from his 2024 mayoral campaign to Parra\u2019s election fund.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Bill McEwen
Politics 101<\/p>\n

So, what is the big picture view? Dyer is backing people he believes he can work with. And, with Democrats all over the ballot, he is favoring those who present moderate Democratic credentials over those backed by local progressives and statewide progressive political action committees.<\/p>\n

SEDA Is the Dividing Line<\/p>\n

Support or opposition to the Southeast Development Area is the mayor\u2019s No. 1 decider. He is determined to see the first phase \u2014 with its 1,547 acres of research and development land for advanced manufacturing \u2014 approved and completed.<\/p>\n

Said Dyer, after a majority of Fresno Unified trustees passed a resolution opposing SEDA: \u201cFor the life of me, I can\u2019t understand it because we have one in four people living below the poverty line. What it tells me is we have a bunch of uninformed people making uninformed decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actually, the four opposing SEDA are highly informed and motivated by political ambition. However, School Board President Veva Islas, and fellow trustees Andy Levine, Valerie Davis, and Keshia Thomas, are kowtowing to the Fresno Teachers Association, which came out early and hard against SEDA.<\/p>\n

Wishing to stay in FTA\u2019s good graces, they are playing ball while also trying to drive people to the polls by turning SEDA into the No. 1 local issue on the primary ballot.<\/p>\n

FTA\u2019s Funny Numbers<\/p>\n

At one point, FTA claimed that approving SEDA would result in the closure of 11 Fresno Unified schools, as families seek homes and apartments there so their children can attend the Clovis and Sanger school districts.<\/p>\n

Funny thing is, no one at Fresno Unified can find a document or calculations stating 11 schools would close. In fact, Fresno Unified\u2019s chief of operations says that SEDA would result in the district losing 29 students a year. That\u2019s a pebble in the ocean compared to the 1,200 to 1,700 students the district expects to lose annually over the next seven years.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the reason for the exodus?<\/p>\n

Dyer got it right when he said Tuesday<\/a>: \u201cClearly improvement is needed in Fresno Unified School District and throughout our county. Fresno Unified is the third-largest school district in the state of California. Yet, last year, only 37% of students met the standard category in English Language Arts. \u2026 And only 27% of students met standard in math.\u00a0This is also 10% below state average, that is completely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Families are voting every day to seek a better education for their children elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Dyer Should Target Islas in November<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to November, Dyer would be wise to find a credible challenger to Islas\u2019 McLane High region seat. She won by just 358 votes over a fast-closing challenger in 2022 and has failed to distinguish herself as a fighter for students. Her No. 1 accomplishment: Preserving Fresno Unified\u2019s massive bureaucracy while staving off innovation and transformative educational curriculum.<\/p>\n

Toppling Islas could turbocharge the effort to truly put kids first and finally abandon the Machiavellian politics long derailing Fresno Unified.<\/p>\n

Neither Dyer nor Fresno Unified is officially on the ballot you\u2019re filling out now, will soon fill out, or totally ignore. Both, however, are very much on the ballot.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see who prevails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With about 30 months remaining as Fresno mayor, conventional political wisdom suggests that Jerry Dyer should stay the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-683111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}