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2014 Fresno Unified School District Elections
General Election date:
November 4, 2014
Table of Contents
About the district Method of election Elections What was at stake? Key deadlines Additional elections External links
See also
California Fresno Unified School District Fresno County, California ballot measures Local ballot measures, California

Four seats on the Fresno Unified School District Board of Education were up for general election on November 4, 2014. Incumbents from Trustee Areas 1, 3, 4 and 7 were up for re-election.^[1][2]

Trustee Area 1 incumbent Cal Johnson defeated challengers Debbie J. Darden, Christiansen L. Flemming and Charles Watkins "Muhammad". In the Trustee Area 3 race, incumbent Valerie Florentino Davis won re-election against challenger Esmeralda Diaz. No incumbent ran for re-election to Trustee Area 7, which left two newcomers, Brooke Ashjian and Ruben V. Martinez, to vie for the open seat. Ashjian won the Trustee Area 7 seat. In Trustee Area 4, incumbent Christopher de la Cerda ran unopposed and won re-election. ^[3]

About the district[edit]

See also: Fresno Unified School District, California

Fresno Unified School District is located in Fresno County, California.

Fresno Unified School District is located in Fresno County, California. The county seat of Fresno County is Fresno. Fresno County was home to 955,272 residents in 2013, according to the United States Census Bureau.^[4] In the 2011-2012 school year, Fresno Unified School District was the fourth-largest school district by enrollment in California and served 76,303 students.^[5]

Demographics[edit]

Fresno County underperformed compared to the rest of California in terms of higher education achievement in 2012. The United States Census Bureau found that 19.4 percent of Fresno County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree compared to 30.5 percent for California as a whole. The median household income for Fresno County was $45,741 compared to $61,400 for the entire state. The percentage of people below poverty level for Fresno County was 24.8 percent while it was 15.3 percent statewide.^[4]

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Voter and candidate information[edit]

The Fresno Unified School District Board of Education consists of seven members elected to four-year terms by specific geographic districts. There was no primary election, and the general election was held on November 4, 2014. The seats from Trustee Areas 1, 3, 4 and 7 were up for election in 2014, and the seats from Trustee Areas 2, 5 and 6 were up for election in 2016.^[1][2]

School board candidates had to file with their county elections department during the candidate filing period. The filing period began July 14, 2014, and ended August 8, 2014. To vote in the 2014 general election, voters had to register by October 20, 2014. Voters could request vote-by-mail ballots from October 6, 2014, through October 28, 2014.^[7]

Elections[edit]

2014[edit]

Candidates[edit]

Trustee Area 1[edit]

• Cal Johnson
  • Incumbent
  • Graduate, California State University at Fresno
  • Educator
• Debbie J. Darden
  • Administrator, Rich Product Corporation
• Christiansen L. Flemming
  • At-risk teen counselor and school aide
• Charles Watkins "Muhammad"

Trustee Area 3[edit]

• Valerie Florentino Davis
  • Incumbent
• Esmeralda Diaz
  • Former physician

Trustee Area 4[edit]

• Christopher de la Cerda
  • Incumbent
  • Educator

Trustee Area 7[edit]

• Brooke Ashjian
  • Businessman
• Ruben V. Martinez
  • School cafeteria worker

Election results[edit]

Trustee Area 1[edit]

Fresno Unified School District,
Trustee Area 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Cal Johnson Incumbent	57%	2,333
	Nonpartisan	Debbie J. Darden	25.3%	1,037
	Nonpartisan	Christiansen L. Flemming	10.5%	430
	Nonpartisan	Charles Watkins "Muhammad"	6.3%	259
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.8%	33
Total Votes				4,092
Source: Fresno County Registrar of Voters, "November 4, 2014 Statewide General Election, Official Final Summary Report," accessed December 22, 2014

Trustee Area 3[edit]

Fresno Unified School District,
Trustee Area 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Valerie Florentino Davis Incumbent	55.4%	2,854
	Nonpartisan	Esmeralda Diaz	44.1%	2,268
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.5%	26
Total Votes				5,148
Source: Fresno County Registrar of Voters, "November 4, 2014 Statewide General Election, Official Final Summary Report," accessed December 22, 2014

Trustee Area 4[edit]

This election did not appear on the ballot due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Christopher de la Cerda won re-election by default.^[3]

Trustee Area 7[edit]

Fresno Unified School District,
Trustee Area 7 General Election, 4-year term, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Brooke Ashjian	83.8%	11,092
	Nonpartisan	Ruben V. Martinez	15.7%	2,082
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.4%	55
Total Votes				13,229
Source: Fresno County Registrar of Voters, "November 4, 2014 Statewide General Election, Official Final Summary Report," accessed December 22, 2014

Endorsements[edit]

The Fresno County Democratic Party endorsed Trustee Area 1 challenger Debbie J. Darden.^[8] The Fresno Bee also endorsed Darden, as well as Trustee Area 3 incumbent Valerie Florentino Davis and Trustee Area 7 newcomer Brooke Ashjian.^[9]

Ashjian further received endorsements from the Fresno Teachers Association and former Fresno Unified Board of Education member from Trustee Area 7 Michelle Asadoorian, who did not file to run for re-election in 2014.^[10][11] Fresno Unified Board of Education members Luis Chavez and Christopher de la Cerda endorsed Trustee Area 1 incumbent Cal Johnson.^[12]

Trustee Area 3 challenger Esmeralda Diaz received the endorsement of the Central Valley Progressive Political Action Committee.^[13]

Campaign finance[edit]

Candidates had to file contribution reports within 24 hours of receiving an aggregate total of $1,000 or more from a single source. The first scheduled pre-election report filing deadline was October 6, 2014. If candidates raised or spent less than $1,000 during the 2013 and 2014 calendar years, they had to file Form 470 at that time. If candidates raised or spent more during that time, they had to file Form 460 by the pre-election report filing deadline.^[14]

Candidates required to file Form 460 also had to file a second pre-election report on October 23, 2014, and they had to file termination reports by December 31, 2014. If a termination report was not filed, candidates had to file a semi-annual report by February 2, 2015.^[14]

Reports[edit]

In the Trustee Area 1 race, only incumbent Cal Johnson had reported his campaign contributions and expenditures to the Fresno County Registrar of Voters as of October 26, 2014.^{[15][16][17][18]}

In the Trustee Area 3 race, only incumbent Valerie Florentino Davis had reported her campaign contributions and expenditures to the Fresno County Registrar of Voters as of October 26, 2014.^[19][20]

Trustee Area 4 incumbent Christopher de la Cerda had reported the following contributions and expenditures to the Fresno County Registrar of Voters as of October 18, 2014:^[21]

Only Brooke Ashjian in the Trustee Area 7 race had reported his campaign contributions and expenditures to the Fresno County Registrar of Voters as October 26, 2014.^[22][23]

Past elections[edit]

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

2012 Fresno Unified School District, Trustee Area 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Luis Arthur Chavez 47.2% 2,903      Nonpartisan Esmeralda Diaz 30% 1,842      Nonpartisan Daren Miller 22.5% 1,385      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.3% 19 Total Votes 6,149 Source: Fresno County Registrar of Voters, "Election Summary Report: Presidential General Election," accessed July 21, 2014 Fresno Unified School District, Trustee Area 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Carol Mills Incumbent 60.9% 6,928      Nonpartisan Andrew Doris 23.8% 2,707      Nonpartisan Nicholas Montoya 14.9% 1,700      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.3% 38 Total Votes 11,373 Source: Fresno County Registrar of Voters, "Election Summary Report: Presidential General Election," accessed July 21, 2014 Fresno Unified School District, Trustee Area 6 General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Janet Ryan Incumbent 33.7% 4,588      Nonpartisan George Whitman 22.3% 3,043      Nonpartisan Carole Blomgren 15% 2,041      Nonpartisan Daniel Harrison 14.9% 2,032      Nonpartisan Ken Trapp 13.8% 1,881      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.4% 49 Total Votes 13,634 Source: Fresno County Registrar of Voters, "Election Summary Report: Presidential General Election," accessed July 21, 2014 2010 Trustee Area 1 Fresno Unified School District, Trustee Area 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2010 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Cal Johnson Incumbent 62.2% 2,981      Nonpartisan Vurdell Newsome 37.2% 1,783      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.5% 26 Total Votes 4,790 Source: Fresno County Registrar of Voters, "Election Summary Report: Statewide General Election," accessed September 30, 2014 Trustee Area 3 Fresno Unified School District, Trustee Area 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2010 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Valerie Florentino Davis Incumbent 56% 4,617      Nonpartisan Silvia Astorga Salci 43.7% 3,598      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.3% 27 Total Votes 8,242 Source: Fresno County Registrar of Voters, "Election Summary Report: Statewide General Election," accessed September 30, 2014 Trustee Area 4 This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Tony Vang won re-election by default.[24] Trustee Area 7 This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Michelle Arax Asadoorian won re-election by default.[25]

What was at stake?

Issues in the election[edit]

Two candidates arrive for debate[edit]

Trustee Area 3 incumbent Valerie Florentino Davis and her challenger Esmeralda Diaz talked over issues in the district and their campaigns with an audience of around 100 at a candidate forum on October 9, 2014. The forum had originally been intended for both Trustee Area 3 and Trustee Area 1 candidates, but only the Trustee Area 3 candidates showed up. Trustee Area 1 incumbent Cal Johnson and his challenger Christiansen L. Flemming had both confirmed they would attend the event with forum organizers. When the forum started at 6:30 p.m., only Diaz was present. She answered all of the forum's questions and moved on to taking questions from the audience before Davis arrived.^[26]

Once Davis joined the forum, she and Diaz debated over campaign funding, graduation rates and how to spend new funds from the state. At the time of the forum, Davis had raised over double the amount of campaign contributions that Diaz had, and Diaz voiced concerns that a majority of those contributions came from sources outside of Trustee Area 3 boundaries. Davis alleged that Diaz, who had moved within the boundaries of Trustee Area 3 a few years prior, had moved to the area for political reasons as she had failed to win a previous election in a different district. Diaz denied the claims, saying she had moved to the area because she had found a better home.^[27]

Davis cited her accomplishments on the board over the past decade as reasons for her re-election. Diaz said there was still room for improvement, specifically in regards to graduation rates. Though the rates increased from 70 percent in 2009 to 76 percent in 2012, Diaz said they were growing too slowly and that the district's 15 percent dropout rate was too high.^[27]

Both incumbent and challenger agreed on pushing for a larger focus on career technical education, using new state funding for improving schools and putting the kids first.^[27]

Key deadlines[edit]

The following dates were key deadlines for the Fresno Unified School District election in 2014:^[14][28]

Additional elections on the ballot[edit]

See also: California elections, 2014

This election shared the ballot with judicial elections, municipal elections and other school board elections, as well general elections for several state executive offices, four U.S. House seats, three state Senate seats and two state Assembly seats.^[2]

Recent news[edit]

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Fresno + Unified + School + District + California"

See also[edit]

• California
• Fresno Unified School District, California
• California school board elections, 2014
• List of school board elections in 2014
• School board elections, 2014
• Fresno County, California ballot measures
• California ballot measures

External links[edit]

• Fresno Unified School District
• Fresno County Registrar of Voters

Footnotes[edit]

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