The Fresno County Board of Education last week approved the salary of Michele Cantwell-Copher, the next county superintendent who voters elected this past summer.

The incoming superintendent will make $327,291 per year, the same as outgoing Superintendent Jim Yovino made his final year in office. The board approved the new salary Thursday on 3-2 vote.

“To be fair and equitable, because she is the first woman to be elected (to the county superintendent seat), we kept it the same,” Trustee Allen Clyde, a member of the compensation committee said. “We didn’t give her a raise, but we didn’t lower it.”

Cantwell-Copher being the first woman in the role came up during negotiations, Clyde said.

“Gender aside, it came down to her qualifications,” Trustee James Martinez, the other board member on the compensation committee, said.

Cantwell-Copher, who holds her educational doctorate, is currently the assistant superintendent in charge of educational leadership and development for the Fresno County Office of Education under Yovino. She oversees programs for early childhood education, student equity and empowerment, foster and homeless youth services, integrated data and health services as well as the office’s foundation, the fundraising adjunct for county schools.

“Given her 16 years of experience in FCOE and her academic and professional credentials, we felt that the proposal was fair,” Martinez said.

Cantwell-Copher said she sought fair compensation, requesting that her starting salary be $343,656, the next 5% step up on the county superintendent pay scale . She contests that it wasn’t a request for a raise because it would’ve been that next step for the county superintendent in 2023.

Instead, she’ll get that salary in 2024.

Though considered fair and deserving of Cantwell-Copher because of her education and experience, Martinez and Trustee Kimberly Tapscott-Munson voted against the contract because of concerns about the base salary.

‘Apples to apples’

Cantwell-Copher’s salary in 2023 will be behind those of five other California counties classified by size with Fresno – San Diego, Santa Clara, Orange, Sacramento and Kern.

California classifies its county superintendents in tiers based on total student population with Fresno County in the second tier, known as Class II.

The information from the Class II counties allowed the board to review “apples to apples,” board members said.

Among Class II counties, Fresno County is one of the poorest in terms of poverty rates and median incomes. The most recent research shows Fresno County’s median income was $57,109, with 17.1% of the population living in poverty.

Referencing those numbers, Martinez said the $327,000 salary — about six times the county’s median income – for the Fresno County superintendent is “steep” in comparison to areas with a higher cost of living.

Fresno County is grouped with more affluent counties, like Alameda, Contra Costa and Orange.

The Contra Costa County superintendent makes a $245,728 base salary and $267,460 in total compensation. Contra Costa’s median income is $103,997 and just 7.2% of people live in poverty, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.

The Alameda County superintendent’s total compensation is $317,000 annually, officials said. Alameda County reported a median income of $104,888 – double that of Fresno County – with 8.6% of the population living in poverty.

FCOE offers 70 programs and initiatives to serve the nearly 205,500 Fresno County students across 32 school districts. At least 65 of those programs are not required but “provide services to support our schools.”

“They’re (other county superintendents) doing their minimums that they have to do by law,” Trustee Bryan Burton said. “The superintendents in Fresno have always pushed to provide more services to students in Fresno.”

The comparison may be “apples to apples” as board members said, but Martinez considered the differences between affluent and poverty regions.

“From my background and my experience and knowing the students and families I represent, I couldn’t approve a salary that high given what our median income and poverty rate is in Fresno County,” Martinez said. “Anything above $250,000 in Fresno does a lot more here in Fresno than anywhere else. ”

Even with his concerns, he feels that Cantwell-Copher is the most qualified person who deserves an equitable salary.

Educators present at the meeting agreed with Martinez’s concerns about the salary being so far above the median income – an important factor to discuss because that’s what the educators are living.

There were about five educators present with a few of them talking among themselves about how the salary negotiations should be like those for regular employees.

Hector Romero, president of the Fresno County school employees chapter of the California School Employees Association, said the discussion failed to mention how employees are placed on the salary scale by their experience in similar positions, which have been concerns expressed to him.

“Dr. Michele Cantwell-Copher has never been a county superintendent,” he said. “Why is she starting at the top of our last superintendent?

“I understand that our superintendents have gone farther than the other county offices when it comes to serving our students and developing programs that reach beyond the minimum state requirements, but it’s the staff who make these programs successful.”

Other aspects of contract: total compensation unclear

Putting her at the same rate with other county superintendents across the state, the board upped the automobile and travel allowance from nearly $10,000 annually ($833 a month) to $12,000 annually ($1,000 a month).

The $1,000 educational stipend for having a master’s or doctoral degree, vacation time and $300 professional dues remain unchanged.

Cantwell-Copher and the compensation committee agreed to eliminate the phone stipend. Yovino didn’t use his.

A longevity stipend will be 4.5% for Cantwell-Copher but increase to 6% by the end of her first term in 2027.

Her total compensation package, which Martinez also asked about Thursday as well as during the negotiation process, is unclear as it would include the salary and benefits, such as retirement, health and welfare and employer contributions.

Because of economic uncertainty, the contract will be two years instead of four with negotiations having to take place again in 2024, nearly halfway through Cantwell-Copher’s four-year term.

Cantwell-Copher takes office on Jan. 3, and she’s excited to focus on the work ahead: continuing to grow the services that FCOE offers.

“I’m so excited about the opportunity to work with this board, with our community district superintendents and with our community partners,” she said. “We have extraordinary needs in Fresno County, and when we meet those needs, we will change things across the state of California.”

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