FRESNO COUNTY – In the upcoming primary election, voters will be asked to reflect on the state of local education as they select the best candidate to lead the Fresno County Office of Education. 

There are three candidates hoping to secure more than 50% of the vote during the primary election to secure the position of Fresno County Superintendent of Schools on June 2. The candidates, all of whom have doctorates in educational leadership, include Johnny Alvarado, Michele Cantwell-Copher and Eimear O’Brien. 

Though the new term does not begin until January 2027, if a single candidate receives 50% + 1 of the vote, they will be elected to the position. If no candidate receives an outright majority, the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff election in November.

Cantwell-Copher, the incumbent, is currently finishing her first term in office. She was elected to the position in June 2022 with 64.1% of the vote.

The Fresno County Superintendent of Schools has many duties prescribed by state law, as the office of education often acts as an arm of the state department of education.

Primarily, the county superintendent is responsible for the operations of county-run schools, the fiscal oversight of all school districts in the county and the administering of resources to local administrators and teachers. 

All registered voters in Fresno County select the superintendent of schools. It is the only county administrative position on the ballot this June with multiple candidates. Current Fresno County Clerk James Kus, Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector Oscar Garcia and Assessor-Recorder Paul Dictos are all running for reelection unopposed.

Candidates are listed alphabetically by last name.

Johnny Alvarado

Johnny Alvarado grew up in Sanger and, though he did not start his career in education, has been working as a teacher, administrator and educational coach since 1995. He has taught at the elementary, middle and high school grade levels and served school districts as an assistant superintendent and county administrator. 

Alvarado has been preparing himself for the role of county superintendent for more than a decade after he identified in 2014 that he wanted to hold the position one day. He has worked in the Sanger, Fresno, Clovis, Selma and Parlier school districts and also worked for the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools office and a charter school organization. 

Alvarado said he wants to be the superintendent of schools because he believes Fresno County needs more transparency and accountability in education and student outcomes.

Alvarado said a county superintendent has three distinct roles: overseeing the county budget and approving the budgets of each school district, providing support structures for special populations in the county and superintending the county. 

“When you look at what the word superintendent means, it basically means that the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools is going to serve as the watcher, as the evaluator and as the supporter in ensuring that all schools are held accountable without actually running the school districts,” Alvarado said. 

It is the third role that Alvarado feels has been lacking from the county office of education for many years, he said. Alvarado wants to bring more transparency and accountability to school districts. 

Alvarado has specifically said he feels that the county is failing its students because of the percentage of students who are not meeting state standards in language arts and math on California’s standardized tests. 

He would like to be more accountable to students, parents and everyone in Fresno County by more regularly publishing the student progress that each school district measures and evaluates as it tests students throughout the school year. 

Alvarado said something else he wants to address is the idea of “social promotion,” meaning students are passed and allowed to move up grade levels regardless of their ability to read and write on grade level. He said he is concerned by the percentage of 11th grade students not meeting state standards, because those 11th grade students will be allowed to graduate and move on to college or careers without necessarily being fully prepared. 

Michele Cantwell-Copher

Michele Cantwell-Copher grew up in the unincorporated community of Riverdale and attended Fresno City College and California State University, Fresno. 

Cantwell-Copher started her career in education as a teacher in Clovis Unified and Central Unified, and she also spent a few years working at State Center Community College District. She has worked for the county office of education for the last 17 years. 

Having been in the role for more than three years now, Cantwell-Copher said she wants to continue the success the office of education has achieved with some of the highest levels of academic growth in the state. 

Beyond the county superintendent’s duties of being the intermediary between local school districts and the state of California, Cantwell-Copher said the office should be seeking out grants and implementing programs that are broader than basic compliance responsibilities. 

“We are in the business of looking at full systems for both health and education and really looking at ways to mitigate barriers towards students’ success in school,” Cantwell-Copher said. 

During her time in office so far, Cantwell-Copher said she has focused on improving program efficiencies and providing fiscal stewardship so the county can continue to provide a wide variety of programs even as costs rise and funding is uncertain. 

While other candidates have emphasized the percentages of students not meeting grade level standards on state standardized tests, Cantwell-Copher has highlighted the progress Fresno County has made in the last few years. Data from the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress shows outcomes across the county have grown more than they have across the state in the last few years. 

“What we’re learning and what we’re doing is working, and we have reason to assume — we’re doing interim assessments right now, so it’s not a hope or a guess — it is scientifically projected that our growth will continue in a similar manner as we go into this testing (period),” Cantwell-Copher said. 

Cantwell-Copher said there are also many other ways to measure success. The county has seen more schools be named to the California Distinguished Schools program and has seen an increase in students involved in career technical education programs.  

Eimear O’Brien

Originally from Ireland, Eimear O’Brien has made Fresno County her home for more than 30 years. She has spent 20 years as a teacher — 10 in Ireland and 10 in Fresno County — and was principal of Clovis West High School. 

O’Brien then spent six years as superintendent of Clovis Unified School District, where she retired in 2023. She most recently served as the interim superintendent of Central Unified School District.  

O’Brien said that as superintendent, she never missed a monthly meeting with the other superintendents from around the county. She said she felt it was critical that all school districts could come together and be partners with one another to help improve student outcomes, and that is something she wants to continue to do as the county superintendent. 

The role of county superintendent has no direct authority over each individual school district’s superintendent, O’Brien said. The county superintendent should instead be there to help district superintendents fulfill their goals and access resources they may not have available to them. 

“Having been a district superintendent, now actually not once, but twice in the county, I’m very aware of what accountability feels like, because you can lose your job very easily,” O’Brien said. “As a district superintendent, you’re held very accountable to (the school board), and so that’s where the county superintendent can come in.” 

O’Brien said her focus as superintendent of schools would be to accelerate progress in meeting state standards in math and literacy. She specifically wants to boost literacy in the younger grades. If students struggle to learn to read in elementary school, that impacts their ability to access math and science and all other subjects that start to come up in the later grades. 

“Then it starts affecting their motivation and their confidence and their attendance at school and all those other things, their mental wellness and things like that, and so we have to address that,” O’Brien said.

Another issue O’Brien wants to work on is ensuring that the county has sustainable systems in place, especially to support smaller school districts. 

“Right now, we’re going to access a lot of grant dollars to help us with this early literacy piece,” O’Brien said. “But what we don’t want to happen is it’s all good for a couple of years, but when the money isn’t there, do we have sustainable systems in place that will carry us into the future? That’s something that I can really help our small districts with.”