Parents question Fresno Unified’s priorities after the district eliminates $2.2 million in enrichment funding while senior administrators collect millions in compensation
Fresno Unified parents and educators were questioning the district’s spending priorities Tuesday after it eliminated $2.2 million in centralized elementary field-trip funding and nearly 384 positions for the 2026-27 school year while public records showed Superintendent Mao Misty Her received $513,725 in total pay and benefits in 2025.
Figarden Elementary School parent Michelle Hernandez told ABC30 that her daughter had been looking forward to sixth-grade camp.
“To quote my daughter, she said the only reason she came to sixth grade was for sixth grade camp,” Hernandez said.
The superintendent’s compensation included $386,045 in regular pay, $40,563 in other pay and $87,117 in benefits, according to Transparent California. The $513,725 figure represented total pay and benefits, not base salary.
The Fresno Unified board approved a three-year superintendent contract in 2025 that initially carried an annual salary of $385,500. The employment agreement also provided additional benefits and allowed compensation adjustments tied to changes for district management employees.
Several other senior administrators received compensation packages exceeding $300,000. Payroll records showed Chief Human Resources and Labor Officer David Chavez received $414,582 in total pay and benefits, while Chief Operations and Classified Labor Management Officer Paul Idsvoog received $401,783.
Chief Financial Officer Patrick Jensen received $384,032, Chief Academic Officer Carlos Castillo received $359,514 and Chief of Staff Ambra O’Connor received $349,746. Together with the superintendent, those six officials received approximately $2.42 million — more than the amount removed from the centralized field-trip budget. The funding categories are not necessarily interchangeable under school finance rules.
Fresno Unified eliminated centralized funding for transitional kindergarten through sixth-grade enrichment trips, including the traditional sixth-grade science camp. Schools can still organize trips, but must use campus budgets, donations or fundraising.
Fresno Unified Communications Manager AJ Kato confirmed the reduction to Fresnoland.
“As part of our budget cuts, the district eliminated centrally funded TK-6 enrichment trips, equaling $2.2 million dollars,” Kato said.
Mayfair Elementary School Principal Faviola Perez estimated that preserving her campus’s sixth-grade camp would require raising approximately $50,000. Families could face costs of about $300 per student, according to Fresnoland.
District officials attributed the reduction partly to the expiration of temporary federal pandemic funding that had paid for at least one annual enrichment trip for younger students. Deputy Superintendent Ben Drati told GV Wire that Fresno Unified needed to prioritize classroom instruction.
“Those programs, all those field trips, what we call enrichment, they’re not core,” Drati said.
The Fresno Teachers Association called for the funding to be restored and pointed to approximately $1.5 million in central-office meals and travel spending during the previous year. Drati said roughly $900,000 of that amount financed professional development tied to instruction, according to GV Wire.
The field-trip reduction was part of a broader contraction. Fresno Unified also stopped guaranteeing funding for students traveling to some state and national academic competitions, including History Day and speech and debate, according to GV Wire.
The district’s 2026-27 adopted budget eliminated 383.8 full-time-equivalent positions, including reductions affecting early education, school safety and the Department of Prevention and Intervention.
Fresno Unified had previously projected a roughly $55 million deficit. An improved state budget outlook later reduced the projected shortfall to approximately $23 million, but district officials retained the reductions while citing declining enrollment, lower attendance and the expiration of federal funding, according to Fresnoland.
The district’s spending and academic results also drew comparisons with Elk Grove Unified near Sacramento. Elk Grove Superintendent David Reilly started in January with a base salary of $352,365 plus benefits, according to The Sacramento Bee. That base salary should not be directly compared with the Fresno superintendent’s total-compensation figure.
California’s 2025 testing results showed 37.11% of Fresno Unified students met or exceeded the state English language arts standard and 27.15% met or exceeded the mathematics standard.
In Elk Grove Unified, 54.37% met or exceeded the English standard and 43.40% met or exceeded the math standard — approximately 17 points and 16 points higher, respectively.
The scores preceded Reilly’s tenure and do not establish a connection between superintendent compensation and academic performance. The comparison nevertheless showed the difference in outcomes between two of California’s largest school districts as Fresno Unified confronted questions about its spending priorities.
Fresno Unified maintained that it had not prohibited field trips because individual schools could still finance them. The district posted its financial records and explanations of the reductions on its official budget updates page.
