Read the Summer 2010 Edition of Building Futures
View Building Futures Media Kit

The Fresno Unified Board of Education voted unanimously June 16 to place a $280 million bond on the November 2010 ballot to address the facilities needs of the Fresno Unified School District.

"Our Board’s action to move forward with a bond reflects our commitment to improving and repairing Fresno Unified schools," said FUSD Superintendent Michael Hanson. "Even more so during these challenging times, we must press forward to ensure that all our students have access to high-quality schools." Read more

The Fresno Unified School District is asking for the community’s input in the development of the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 academic calendars. The two main objectives of the calendar are to enhance the District’s academic goals and to increase student attendance throughout the district:

  All students will excel in reading, writing and math
  All students will engage in arts, activities and athletics
  All students will demonstrate the character and competencies for workplace success
  All students will stay in school on target to graduate

To take the survey, click here

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The Fresno Unified School District, Clovis Unified School District and Sanger Unified School District held a news conference to announce details of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in support of California’s application for a Race to the Top (RTTT) grant. Race to the Top will provide much-needed education funding. It is also linked to new education reforms, including identification of the state’s most persistently lowest-achieving schools. The MOU outlines how districts and stakeholders will work together on these reforms and other details, should California succeed in attracting a RTTT grant.
Watch Press Conference Video

As a result of California’s budget crisis, the Fresno Unified School District is facing at least $113 million in revenue reductions from the state. On March 10, the Board of Education approved the first phase of budget reductions for 2010-11. The district will reach its budget-reduction target of $35 million for the next year with a second phase of reductions, expected to be finalized over the next several months. These reductions are part of $68 million in cuts that need to be made over the next three years. Because of the Board’s leadership, Fresno Unified is in a better position than many school districts in California in that we are able to phase in the reductions.

The Board has approached these reductions with care and concern, guided by the overarching principles of protecting the teaching and learning environment and protecting jobs.

These reductions come on top of cuts already implemented over the past two years that included a 12% reduction in Central Office Administration and the reduction of 25 elementary vice principals.

Please view more details of the budget-reduction plan here
Budget Reductions 2010-11 Fact Sheet
Temporary Reduction Work Year Q&A

Education researchers have published the first in a series of briefs exploring the Fresno-Long Beach Learning Partnership, collaboration intent on improving and accelerating student achievement and closing achievement gaps. The series will explore the impact of the partnership between the Fresno Unified School District and the Long Beach Unified School District, and help districts and policymakers understand the potential and challenges of this unique approach.

The 13-page brief was written by Helen Duffy, a senior research analyst at the American Institutes for Research (AIR); Jim Brown, senior advisor to Pivot Learning Partners; and Jennifer O’Day, managing research scientist at AIR. The series was funded by grants from the Stuart Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation.
View the brief here

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that three Fresno Unified School District schools – Bullard TALENT, Manchester GATE, and Edison Computech Middle School – earned the prestigious national Blue Ribbon School award for 2009.

"This national recognition is a testament to the outstanding work and commitment of these schools to accelerate the academic achievement of our students," said FUSD Superintendent Michael Hanson. "I commend the staff, students, and parents for their continued focused and hard work – these schools are a beacon for our community and send a strong message that high academic achievement is within the reach of all our students."

Bullard TALENT, Manchester GATE, and Edison Computech Middle School are three of 314 schools in the nation to receive the 2009 National Blue Ribbon School award. This is the first year in which Fresno Unified has received three in one year. With this year's awards, Fresno Unified School District has received nine National Blue Ribbon School awards:

Fresno Unified School District posted significant district-wide growth in both English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics on the California Standards Tests (CSTs).

"These results send the message that we have the systems, school leadership and classroom instruction in place to maximize student learning," said FUSD Superintendent Michael Hanson. "The lesson here is that what we are doing is working and we will look for ways to continue to accelerate student achievement."

FUSD has posted steady gains the past four years, but this is the first year where the district is seeing some acceleration in the rate of improved student achievement. After achieving historic gains in mathematics last year, this year's mathematics gains are even bigger than last year and more consistent across grade level.

"We have much work ahead and we will not pull back on the lever, but I'm happy to report that the district-wide initiatives focused on classroom learning are working," Hanson said. "We will not let up in our work to prepare career ready graduates and provide our students and this community the kind of education they deserve and need."

Summary of CST results:

The Board of Education holds regular meetings every second and fourth Wednesday of the month. Click here for details. As supporting material for board agenda items are made available, they may be accessed through using this link.

The California Department of Education released the 2008 Academic Performance Index Base Report, showing Fresno Unified schools are improving in the Statewide and Similar Schools rankings. The report allows the district to compare gains made during the last school year (2007-08) with other schools in the state. Fresno Unified schools are seeing increases in the rankings with 20 schools increasing in the State-wide ranking and 40 schools increasing their Similar Schools ranking. The biggest Similar School ranking gains were for Lincoln Elementary (from a 1 to a 7), Vinland Elementary (from a 1 to a 7), and Greenberg Elementary (from a 2 to a 7). Fresno Unified has also reduced its number of "1-1" schools, which represents schools at the lowest State-wide and at the lowest Similar Schools ranking. Fresno Unified has only 12 schools with a "1-1" ranking as compared to 23 schools just 3 years ago.

The Fresno Unified School District Board of Education adopted a balanced $990 million budget for the 2009-10 school year while ensuring that permanent employees with the district will remain employed with FUSD next year. Unlike many other school districts in California that were faced with significant teacher layoffs, FUSD was able to present and adopt a budget that protects teacher jobs and avoids significant impact to classrooms. FUSD is able to endure the dismal state budget crisis because of prudent budget reductions taken early and by implementing a system-wide hiring and purchasing freeze last January. In addition, the district's healthy budget reserve and one-time federal stimulus dollars are buffering the sharp impact.

To assist the district's mission of preparing career ready graduates, the Superintendent commissioned the Workforce Readiness and Career Technical Education (CTE) Commission to develop recommendations that will ensure all students graduate with the character and competencies for workplace success. Comprised of business and community leaders, the Commission presented its recommendations to the Board of Education at its regularly scheduled meeting on May 27, 2009.
 View the CTE Report

The Superintendent's English Learners Task Force was commissioned to more clearly define and articulate instructional programs for Fresno Unified School District's more than 20,000 English Learners. The EL Task Force presented its recommendations in a report to the FUSD Board of Education at its regularly scheduled meeting on May 27, 2009.
View the EL Task Force report

The Fresno Unified School District Board of Education approved the Facilities Master Plan at its regularly scheduled board meeting April 29. The Facilities Master Plan will chart the district's facilities efforts for the next 15 years to meet the needs of students throughout the district and is the result of a nearly two-year process by the Facilities Ad Hoc Advisory Committee (FAAC). Included in the document are plans for the construction of new schools, choice options in each high school attendance area, and creation of flexible facilities to support the district's work in preparing career ready graduates.
View the Facilities Master Plan

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell announced that Fresno Unified School District's Baird Middle School, Computech Middle School, and Design Science High School were selected as 2009 California Distinguished Schools, an annual award that recognizes some of the state's most exemplary public schools. "This recognition is a testament to the outstanding work of the students, staff, and parents at Baird, Computech, and Design Science High School," said FUSD Superintendent Michael Hanson. "We commend the continued efforts of these schools to prepare career ready graduates."
Fresno Unified School District schools have received 40 California Distinguished School awards since the program began in 1986. The selected middle and high schools represent about 10.9 percent of California's nearly 2,400 middle and high schools. Of those, only 341 schools met the eligibility criteria based on their student achievement and were chosen from 170 school districts in 46 counties. An awards ceremony honoring the Distinguished Schools will be held Friday, May 29 at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim. The Disneyland Resort is a major corporate sponsor of the event.

The FUSD Board of Education adopted the school calendars for the 2010/11 school years.
View the 2010/2011 school year calendar

Fresno Unified School District Board of Education established a Constituent Services Office to respond to the needs of parents and community members. The Constituent Services administrator helps parents and community members to receive their requested information and guides them on the most effective route to address or resolve an issue. Fresno serves more than 73,000 students at 106 schools, and the Constituent Services Office helps to connect parents and community members with the information and resources to get the help they need swiftly. The Constituent Services Office can be reached at 457-3736.