Clovis Unified School District, California

Clovis Unified School District
Fresno County, California
District details
Superintendent: Eimear O'Farrell
# of school board members: 7
Website: Link

Clovis Unified School District is a school district in California that served 40,783 students during the 2013-2014 school year. This district was the 18th-largest by enrollment in the state of California.

About the district

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

The Clovis Unified School District is located in Fresno County in central California. The county seat is Fresno. Fresno County was home to 974,861 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.

Demographics

Fresno County underperformed compared to California as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 19.5 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 31 percent of state residents. The median household income for Fresno County was $45,201, compared to $61,489 for the entire state. The percentage of people in poverty was 27.5 percent, while it was 16.4 percent statewide.

Racial Demographics, 2015
Race	Fresno County (%)	California (%)
White	77.2	72.9
Black or African American	5.9	6.5
American Indian and Alaska Native	3.0	1.7
Asian	10.7	14.7
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0.3	0.5
Two or more races	3.0	3.8
Hispanic or Latino	52.4	38.8

Presidential Voting Pattern, Fresno County
Year	Democratic Vote	Republican Vote
2012	129,129	124,490
2008	136,706	131,015
2004	103,154	141,988
2000	95,059	117,342

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.

Superintendent

This information is updated as we become aware of changes. Please contact us with any updates.

Eimear O'Farrell is the superintendent of the Clovis Unified School District. O'Farrell was appointed superintendent on May 30, 2017. O'Farrell's previous career experience includes working as an elementary school teacher, learning director, and principal.

Past superintendents

• Janet Young was the superintendent of the Clovis Unified School District from 2014 to 2017. Young's previous career experience included working as a teacher, principal, and director of school and community relations.

School board elections

The Clovis Unified School District Board of Education consists of seven members elected to four-year terms by specific geographic districts.

Clovis Unified Board of Education
Member	Trustee Area	Assumed office	Term Ends
Susan Hatmaker	1	2018	2022
Ginny Hovsepian	2	1991	2020
Tiffany Stoker Madsen	3	2018	2022
Hugh Awtrey	4	2019	2020
Steven Fogg	5	2016	2020
Betsy Sandoval	6	1996	2022
Chris Casado	7	2008	2020

This officeholder information was last updated on November 14, 2019. Please contact us with any updates.

Election dates

See also: 2014 election overview, 2016 election overview, and 2018 election overview

Members of the Clovis Unified Board of Education are elected to four-year terms on a staggered basis every even-numbered year.

Public participation in board meetings

The Clovis Unified Board of Education maintains the following policy on public testimony during board meetings:

“	All meetings of the Board shall be open to the public. All actions of the Board shall be taken openly. The public is invited to attend Board meetings and will be given opportunity to voice opinions. However, the law requires the Board to respect employees’ privacy. Members of the public may feel free to use this time to criticize either the Board or the District as a whole, but if there is a complaint about an individual employee which could result in disciplinary action, the District’s complaint procedure should be followed; or the individual must wait until the Board can schedule a closed session as required by the open meeting laws, including advance notice to the employee. The Board, as the representative body of the District, wishes to provide an avenue for any citizen to express interest in, and concern for, the District. Accordingly, the Board hereby adopts the following rules concerning public participation at meetings of the Board: 1. Members of the public have the right to place matters “directly related to school business” on the formal agenda of Board meetings: a. So that the Board and District administrative personnel can adequately discharge their responsibilities, citizens who wish to have items placed upon the formal agenda for consideration at an upcoming Board meeting must make a request to the Clovis Unified School District Office located at 1450 Herndon Avenue, Clovis, no later than one week prior to the date of the scheduled Board meeting. b. In connection with matters included on the formal agenda by members of the public, the Board reserves the right to: (1) Determine the order of business as to the discussion and consideration of such items. (2) Postpone items until a later meeting if reasonable justification for doing so exists. 2. In addition, members of the public also have the right to comment upon all matters included on the formal agenda whether placed there by members of the public or otherwise. In connection therewith, the President of the Board reserves the right to: a. Limit the discussion of a particular issue b. Postpone the discussion of a particular item until a later time or later meeting provided that reasonable justification therefore exists. c. Public comments shall be heard only from individuals physically present at the meeting. 3. Finally, the Board shall take testimony on matters not included on the agenda of a regularly scheduled meeting which members of the public wish to bring to the attention of the Board. This discussion shall occur during the “Public Presentation” portion of the agenda and must be delivered by an individual physically present at the meeting. Individuals wishing to make a presentation must so advise the Board President by completing a “sign-in” sheet prior to the meeting. Individual presentations shall be limited to a maximum of three (3) minutes. Each individual wishing to address the Board is allocated 3 minutes and may NOT give their 3 minutes to another individual. The Board will take no action on such matters at the same meeting at which such testimony is taken. Nothing herein shall limit further discussion on such subject matter at a subsequent meeting of the Board.	”
—Clovis Unified Board of Education (2014)

Budget

From 1993 to 2013, the Clovis Unified School District had an average of $296,412,429 in revenue and $297,667,619 in expenditures, according to the United States Census Bureau's survey of school system finances. The district had a yearly average of $222,301,429 in outstanding debt. The district retired $28,673,810 of its debt and issued $39,491,095 in new debt each year on average.

Revenue

The table below separates the district's revenue into the three sources identified by the agency: local, state, and federal.

Revenue by Source
Fiscal Year	Local		State		Federal		Revenue Total
	Total	% of Revenue	Total	% of Revenue	Total	% of Revenue

Click [show] on the right to display the revenue data for prior years.
1993	$33,649,000	20.12%	$83,902,000	50.16%	$49,723,000	29.73%	$167,274,000
1994	$39,806,000	25.77%	$82,897,000	53.66%	$31,778,000	20.57%	$154,481,000
1995	$56,661,000	37.37%	$84,533,000	55.75%	$10,432,000	6.88%	$151,626,000
1996	$60,399,000	36.00%	$96,461,000	57.49%	$10,916,000	6.51%	$167,776,000
1997	$69,049,000	35.58%	$117,781,000	60.69%	$7,227,000	3.72%	$194,057,000
1998	$79,938,000	34.96%	$140,738,000	61.56%	$7,959,000	3.48%	$228,635,000
1999	$73,482,000	32.09%	$146,302,000	63.89%	$9,208,000	4.02%	$228,992,000
2000	$82,764,000	32.23%	$164,581,000	64.10%	$9,415,000	3.67%	$256,760,000
2001	$84,903,000	30.74%	$180,980,000	65.52%	$10,338,000	3.74%	$276,221,000
2002	$94,530,000	34.63%	$166,460,000	60.98%	$11,963,000	4.38%	$272,953,000
2003	$110,840,000	36.65%	$176,430,000	58.34%	$15,166,000	5.01%	$302,436,000
2004	$112,689,000	37.32%	$172,776,000	57.22%	$16,463,000	5.45%	$301,928,000
2005	$119,153,000	36.56%	$189,429,000	58.12%	$17,327,000	5.32%	$325,909,000
2006	$132,028,000	31.84%	$264,701,000	63.83%	$17,962,000	4.33%	$414,691,000
2007	$136,677,000	32.70%	$262,585,000	62.83%	$18,676,000	4.47%	$417,938,000
2008	$150,076,000	35.33%	$255,209,000	60.09%	$19,446,000	4.58%	$424,731,000
2009	$137,193,000	33.65%	$240,154,000	58.90%	$30,415,000	7.46%	$407,762,000

2010	$125,984,000	33.65%	$216,921,000	57.95%	$31,437,000	8.40%	$374,342,000
2011	$123,810,000	31.46%	$234,714,000	59.63%	$35,062,000	8.91%	$393,586,000
2012	$114,674,000	30.91%	$227,731,000	61.38%	$28,626,000	7.72%	$371,031,000
2013	$120,702,000	30.83%	$244,982,000	62.57%	$25,848,000	6.60%	$391,532,000
Avg.	$98,047,952	32.88%	$178,584,143	59.75%	$19,780,333	7.38%	$296,412,429

Expenditures

The table below separates the district's expenditures into five categories identified by the agency:

• Instruction: operation expenditures, state payments on behalf of the district for instruction and benefits, and retirement system transfers
• Support Services: support services, food services, and retirement system transfers for support service staff
• Capital Spending: capital outlay expenditures (i.e., construction, land or facilities purchases, and equipment purchases)
• Debt & Gov. Payments: payments to state and local governments and interest on school system debt
• Other: all other non-K-12 programs, except food services

Expenditures by Category
Fiscal Year	Instruction		Support Services		Capital Spending		Debt & Gov. Payments		Other		Budget Total
	Total	% of Budget	Total	% of Budget	Total	% of Budget	Total	% of Budget	Total	% of Budget

Click [show] on the right to display the expenditure data for prior years.
1993	$81,945,000	41.26%	$53,746,000	27.06%	$42,562,000	21.43%	$4,527,000	2.28%	$15,818,000	7.96%	$198,598,000
1994	$68,136,000	39.81%	$46,678,000	27.28%	$47,146,000	27.55%	$4,205,000	2.46%	$4,971,000	2.90%	$171,136,000
1995	$71,849,000	42.53%	$47,169,000	27.92%	$27,830,000	16.47%	$5,625,000	3.33%	$16,471,000	9.75%	$168,944,000
1996	$79,664,000	46.55%	$51,439,000	30.06%	$32,228,000	18.83%	$2,538,000	1.48%	$5,252,000	3.07%	$171,121,000
1997	$88,999,000	49.13%	$52,643,000	29.06%	$29,393,000	16.23%	$4,970,000	2.74%	$5,129,000	2.83%	$181,134,000
1998	$95,276,000	41.75%	$62,089,000	27.21%	$57,699,000	25.29%	$8,975,000	3.93%	$4,149,000	1.82%	$228,188,000
1999	$99,118,000	40.56%	$66,384,000	27.16%	$69,997,000	28.64%	$4,153,000	1.70%	$4,739,000	1.94%	$244,391,000
2000	$106,981,000	38.71%	$76,706,000	27.76%	$78,723,000	28.48%	$6,033,000	2.18%	$7,924,000	2.87%	$276,367,000
2001	$126,077,000	46.14%	$91,671,000	33.55%	$43,785,000	16.02%	$6,478,000	2.37%	$5,228,000	1.91%	$273,239,000
2002	$137,301,000	48.81%	$97,166,000	34.54%	$34,644,000	12.32%	$6,540,000	2.33%	$5,625,000	2.00%	$281,276,000
2003	$142,770,000	48.78%	$100,008,000	34.17%	$36,859,000	12.59%	$7,571,000	2.59%	$5,444,000	1.86%	$292,652,000
2004	$141,465,000	49.49%	$96,841,000	33.88%	$34,546,000	12.09%	$7,588,000	2.65%	$5,417,000	1.90%	$285,857,000
2005	$154,019,000	49.27%	$105,172,000	33.64%	$39,644,000	12.68%	$7,689,000	2.46%	$6,078,000	1.94%	$312,602,000
2006	$166,457,000	40.71%	$113,055,000	27.65%	$106,396,000	26.02%	$9,853,000	2.41%	$13,079,000	3.20%	$408,840,000
2007	$189,057,000	41.46%	$124,987,000	27.41%	$116,328,000	25.51%	$10,587,000	2.32%	$15,085,000	3.31%	$456,044,000
2008	$193,524,000	45.15%	$131,872,000	30.77%	$77,971,000	18.19%	$10,988,000	2.56%	$14,261,000	3.33%	$428,616,000
2009	$190,185,000	48.31%	$128,108,000	32.54%	$46,837,000	11.90%	$21,221,000	5.39%	$7,332,000	1.86%	$393,683,000

2010	$189,753,000	52.67%	$122,993,000	34.14%	$28,832,000	8.00%	$12,205,000	3.39%	$6,495,000	1.80%	$360,278,000
2011	$183,847,000	49.85%	$124,825,000	33.85%	$43,574,000	11.82%	$10,612,000	2.88%	$5,907,000	1.60%	$368,765,000
2012	$186,478,000	52.56%	$124,493,000	35.09%	$29,689,000	8.37%	$8,788,000	2.48%	$5,356,000	1.51%	$354,804,000
2013	$200,026,000	50.71%	$130,806,000	33.16%	$49,365,000	12.51%	$8,596,000	2.18%	$5,692,000	1.44%	$394,485,000
Avg.	$137,758,429	45.92%	$92,802,429	30.85%	$51,145,143	17.66%	$8,082,952	2.67%	$7,878,667	2.90%	$297,667,619

Debt

The table below shows the amount of debt retired, issued, and outstanding in the district for each year.

Debt
Fiscal Year	Retired	Issued	Outstanding

Click [show] on the right to display the debt data for prior years.
1993	$76,985,000	$120,145,000	$112,335,000
1994	$7,810,000	$0	$112,335,000
1995	$0	$0	$112,335,000
1996	$0	$72,499,000	$112,335,000
1997	$11,580,000	$21,399,000	$175,513,000
1998	$2,890,000	$4,101,000	$180,719,000
1999	$162,231,000	$164,932,000	$182,445,000
2000	$12,849,000	$10,390,000	$180,971,000
2001	$12,864,000	$0	$168,106,000
2002	$13,494,000	$49,996,000	$204,608,000
2003	$14,906,000	$29,000,000	$218,703,000
2004	$15,780,000	$0	$202,923,000
2005	$16,959,000	$148,898,000	$356,046,000
2006	$21,184,000	$48,001,000	$361,679,000
2007	$23,352,000	$7,820,000	$346,147,000
2008	$22,105,000	$0	$324,042,000
2009	$55,051,000	$64,715,000	$333,706,000

2010	$41,173,000	$0	$282,833,000
2011	$39,838,000	$7,420,000	$250,415,000
2012	$29,129,000	$0	$195,811,000
2013	$21,970,000	$79,997,000	$254,323,000
Avg.	$28,673,810	$39,491,095	$222,301,429

Teacher salaries

Clovis Unified School District employed 1,679 teachers in the 2011-2012 school year. Teacher salaries are categorized based on higher education achievement, professional development and years of service. A teacher with a bachelor's degree can earn higher salaries by pursuing graduate courses with raises at credit intervals. The salary schedule also accounts for graduate degrees by providing higher starting salaries and greater potential salaries.

Teachers at Clovis Unified School District do not have a union. Instead, they have a faculty senate who is in charge of negotiating salary schedules with district administration. The following table details the salary schedule negotiated between the district and the faculty senate for the 2014-2015 school year.

Salary structure
Degree level	Minimum salary ($)	Maximum salary ($)
B.A.	42,456	50,424
B.A. + 45	43,512	57,297
B.A. + 60 or M.A.	44,568	78,782
B.A. + 75	45,625	80,649
75 + M.A.	46,681	82,516

Schools in Clovis Unified School District

Enrollment

Clovis Unified School District served 40,783 students during the 2013-2014 school year. The table below details the district's total enrollment since the 2009-2010 school year.

Total enrollment
Year	Enrollment	Year-to-year change (%)
2009-2010	38,004	-
2010-2011	38,495	1.3
2011-2012	39,040	1.4
2012-2013	39,894	2.1
2013-2014	40,783	2.2

District schools

Clovis Unified School District operates 49 schools, which are listed below in alphabetical order:

Clovis Unified School District
School Name
Alta Sierra Intermediate
Buchanan High School
Bud Rank
CART
Cedarwood
Century
Clark Intermediate
Clovis Adult School
Clovis East High School
Clovis Elementary
Clovis High School
Clovis North High School
Clovis West High School
Cole
Community Day Elementary School
Community Day Secondary School
Copper Hills
Cox
Dry Creek
Enterprise High School
Fancher Creek
Fort Washington
Freedom
Fugman
Garfield
Gateway High School
Gettysburg
Granite Ridge Intermediate
Jefferson
Kastner Intermediate
Liberty
Lincoln
Maple Creek
Miramonte
Mountain View
Nelson
Oraze
Pinedale
Reagan
Red Bank
Reyburn Intermediate
Riverview
Sierra Outdoor School at 5-Mile Creek
Sierra Vista
Tarpey
Temperance-Kutner
Valley Oak
Weldon
Woods

Academic performance

California STAR program

California's Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program, which includes the California Standards Tests, the California Modified Assessment and the California Alternate Performance Assessment, measures student achievement in grades two through 11 for California's academic content standards. STAR results include English-language arts and mathematics in grades two through 11, science in grades five and eight through 11 and history and social science in grades eight, 10 and 11. In high school, math and science tests reflect the course in which the student is enrolled.

There are five STAR performance benchmarks to indicate a student's academic proficiency. "Proficient" or "Advanced" indicates that a student is meeting or exceeding state standards.

STAR Results, % of Proficient/Advanced Students, 2012-2013
Subject	District (%)	State average (%)
English-Language Arts	73	55
Mathematics	69	50
Science	77	59
History and Social Science	62	49

Issues

Board adopts new dress code policy

In April 2016, the Clovis Unified Board of Education approved an update to the district's dress policy, which had been in place for decades. The policy did not allow boys to wear earrings and required them to have short hair. It also stated that only girls were allowed to wear skirts and dresses. Those requirements were against a law the California State Legislature enacted in 2011 that made "discrimination based on failure to conform to narrow gender stereotypes" illegal, according to The Fresno Bee. The district's new policy eliminated the gender-specific restrictions for hair and jewelry.

The approval for the new dress policy came nearly three months after the board voted 4-3 against similar changes in January 2016. Board members Sandra A. Bengel, Betsy Sandoval, Ginny Hovsepian, and Richard Lake voted against the policy change, and a number of district parents voiced their approval of keeping the old policy.

“Just because it’s a law doesn’t mean we need to put up with it. This community is being assaulted from afar with what I believe is an overreaching law regarding gender equity. I believe it’s un-American to run from a fight for a good cause,” said Hovsepian after she voted against changes to the dress policy in January 2016. Those who were in favor of keeping the old policy said there was a link between good grooming and high academic achievement.

Board member Chris Casado, who voted to change the dress policy, said he supported the other board members' opinions. “I think we have potentially left for ourselves some unfriendly future issues that might develop, and I think that our obligation is protecting this district from unnecessary litigation and to follow the law,” Casado said. “If you’re talking about what you believe in your heart and your mind, I agree with everybody up there that voted ‘no’ 100 percent. But that’s not what we were elected to do.”

One person spoke in favor of changing the dress policy at the board's January meeting: school board candidate Isabel Machado. “Honestly, I’m just shocked,” she said. “I heard when I moved out here that this was ‘Clovis,’ and I sometimes still hear that I live in ‘Clovis,’ but guess what Clovis? It’s 2016.”

Abré Conner, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said she was shocked by the board's vote to keep the old dress policy. “When schools require a certain hair length only for boys, or say that girls can wear earrings but boys cannot wear earrings, they discriminate and prevent students from learning in an inclusive school climate,” said Conner.

Conner said the ACLU would evaluate their next steps, which could have included a lawsuit. The board's vote to change the policy in April 2016, however, brought it in line with the law.

Contact information

1450 Herndon Ave.
Clovis, CA 93611
Phone: (559) 327-9000

See also

California	School Board Elections	News and Analysis
List of school districts in California School board elections in California Public education in California	School board elections, 2026 California school board elections, 2026	School board election data analysis, 2025 United States school shootings, 1990-present

External links

• Clovis Unified School District
• Clovis, California
• Fresno County, California
• California Department of Education
• California School Boards Association

Footnotes