‘This is the last elected, political job I ever want to have.’ Fresno trustee faces challengers

Andy Levine said he never thought of putting his name on the ballot. With years of experience in community organizing, he was used to holding institutions and elected officials accountable for doing the right thing to support the most vulnerable.

“But it was very clear to me in 2022 when this opportunity became available that this was the right one for me to lean into and to challenge myself,” he said. “I believe schools and districts like Fresno unified can do a lot more to provide broader and comprehensive supports for families in poverty.”

Growing up in a family with both parents local educators and his schooling in the Fresno Unified system, Levine witnessed the inequities firsthand — especially among his peers at Edison High. They “were just as hardworking and smart as I was, if not harder working or smarter, (but they) didn’t have the same opportunities that I had,” he said. Levine was prompted to return to Fresno after completing his undergraduate study at UC Davis and earning a Master’s degree from Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Most of Levine’s career is about bringing communities together on issues of common concern. In earlier years, he helped build “Faith in the Valley,” a multi-faith coalition, to address prevalent issues in the Central Valley, such as slum housing and gun violence. He teaches at Fresno State’s sociology department and serves at the affiliated Center for Community Voices as a co-director. His most recent effort was rounding up philanthropic partners to launch the county’s first guaranteed income program at Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission, offering $500 monthly supplemental income for selected families with young children in poverty.

An incumbent trustee representing the Fresno High region, Levine faces a competitive race with two other candidates. He first stepped into the seat in 2022, finishing late board member Carol Mills’ remaining term. A full slate of candidates is a win for the community, he says, because voters are able to hear different perspectives and choose the best possible representative.

“This is the last elected, political job I ever want to have. This is the place I want to serve and have an impact for as long as I’m able to,” he said. “It’s more than worth it to serve the school district that educated me, that I owe so much to.”

For Fresno Unified’s school board races, The Fresno Bee sat down to talk to every candidate. Here are the five questions for Levine. Answers are edited for length and clarity.

Can you talk about your two years on the board?

I’ve certainly had to learn a lot and I’m incredibly proud of the work that I’ve been able to be part of. Such as the maximization of the state funding for community schools, going from five community schools last year to 19 this year, which now have full-time coordinators to bring in wraparound supports for students, and encourage families to be actively involved in campus with their child’s education.

All middle schools are now equipped with washers and dryers, and we piloted at Fort Miller (middle school) a minivan to pick up and drop off students, which significantly reduced chronic absenteeism. Some people wondered how that’s connected to what we as a school system are about; and the actual data backs that up that if we’re not breaking down the barriers that prevent our students from being able to get to school consistently, we don’t have the opportunity to prepare students for college and careers.

And a state program called CalKIDS saving accounts. In March, I brought forward a resolution to formulate a comprehensive plan on how we were going to significantly increase student enrollment. Just in a couple of months after the resolution, over 2500 students claimed their accounts by the end of last school year. Many of those were graduating seniors, who obviously were able to immediately utilize that for tuition, books, room and board, and whatever expenses they needed to start their higher education.

What’s your plan for the next four years if elected?

In my first couple of years, the focus would be addressing the needs of our highest-poverty and most vulnerable students. One of the investments we’ve got is a partnership with the Food Bank. In the next few weeks, we’ll be rolling out funding for 40 school sites that expressed interest in building or expanding student resources pantries. It’ll be $10,000 for each site.

One thing going forward is working with affordable housing partners; we’ve seen a significant increase in our unhoused population, so how we can partner with organizations to help subsidize affordable housing for our unhoused students and families.

I’d say, a lot of my priorities and focuses have been around addressing those root causes that are really critical to reducing our chronic absenteeism, but now, it’s really about the need to see very significant academic gains... Some schools are doing really innovative work, but we’re not nearly where we need to be in terms of seeing across the board those gains.

I think now is the time if we don’t start seeing double-digit gains, we’ll be disappointed. So if I have the honor of getting a full term in this role, I’m really committed to this.

How about Fresno High region? What’s your plan to advocate for it?

Fort Miller is really leading the way for us in the community schools, we’ll have other Fresno High area schools becoming community schools in the next couple of years.

We are definitely making sure to insist on facility investments for our region. Since I’ve been on the board, I’m proud of Del Mar Elementary undergoing major renovations, building a new multi-purpose room, including a cafeteria, and early learning building. For Fresno High, we already have some progress on the new auxiliary gym; the second gym will be a good addition to the oldest gym in our district. Then also new tennis courts.

On the initial list of the new bond, replacing the Fresno High student union, like the cafeteria, and multi-purpose rooms that are long overdue for renovation.

I’ve been calling out the need for parity and equity for all of our schools across the region. I’m proud that I was the one who helped to identify the firm that we brought in (to develop equity scores), RSS Consulting.

The board has been through a lot in the past few months, and there were some disagreements between members.

Before I came onto the board, I was in community organizing… What I’m proud of from that experience is being able to help bring people together that may not have otherwise thought that they would see each other as having more in common than they expected.

I think I bring some skill sets in this role of, you know, we’re not going to agree on everything, and that’s okay… that means each region has a voice in their elected officials… But we really do need each other, all seven of us, to see us as a collective governing body to get things done together for our district and for the students that we serve.

The teachers’ union supports your opponent this year. Why?

I can’t speak for them, obviously, but I was happy and very honored to have their support in 2022. What I’ve committed to them is whether they support me this time or not, I’m not going to change how I interact with them in terms of the vast majority of the things that they care about for our district… it doesn’t change how I collaborate with them and respect them.

I know that there was frustration and a lot of tension during the bargaining process last year. I’ve told them that I feel very confident that I pushed in the appropriate spaces to make sure that we got the vast majority of the things that they wanted to see in their contract that was good for teachers, good for the district so we don’t have any kind of undue significant financial consequences, and, most importantly, good for our students, and avoided a strike. But as a trustee, I don’t think taking a public side is the appropriate way for us to be allies and for us to support teachers. I think it’s really in the spaces that are set up in collective bargaining to make sure that we get those done.