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When Fresno Unified’s own financial team warned that the City of Fresno’s Southeast Development Area (SEDA) plan could force the closure of up to 11 schools and drain $200 million a year from the district, Veva didn’t stay quiet — even when the pressure to do so came from the top.

Why SEDA threatens Fresno Unified

SEDA is a large-scale growth plan that would open up new development on the city’s southeast side — much of it within the territories of Clovis Unified and Sanger Unified, not Fresno Unified. According to the district’s own analysis, the project wouldn’t generate meaningful new population growth so much as redistribute existing families away from long-standing Fresno Unified neighborhoods, accelerating enrollment decline in the district’s schools. Since school funding is tied directly to enrollment, that decline could result in up to 11 school closures and a $200 million annual funding shortfall. On top of that, the city’s own Planning Commission has continued to advance SEDA without a financing plan in place, despite a reported $3 billion shortfall that is not covered by developer fees.

Teachers sounded the alarm too

Fresno Unified’s own teachers weren’t willing to stay silent either. FTA President Manuel Bonilla wrote directly to Veva, warning that a matter with this much long-term impact on enrollment, school closures, and financial stability shouldn’t be left indefinitely tabled without every trustee going on the record. The union wasn’t speculating — the district’s own data indicated deeper enrollment losses and greater pressure on schools if SEDA moved forward.

Veva stood with teachers for our students

Veva made her alignment with educators clear throughout the fight. In February 2026, a resolution to formally oppose SEDA — drafted by the superintendent’s office and cleared by the board’s legislative committee — was brought to a vote. Despite two weeks’ advance notice, four trustees chose to table it indefinitely rather than take a position, effectively blocking Superintendent Misty Her from publicly opposing the plan. Veva didn’t back down, telling colleagues that threats from the mayor of Fresno hadn’t deterred her from her oath to students, families, teachers, and staff.

Reporting later revealed why that vote was so contested. Text messages showed Mayor Jerry Dyer had personally pressured trustees not to oppose SEDA, going so far as to run private “training sessions” to line up city council support for the project. When Dyer appealed directly to Veva, she didn’t waver — she told him that SEDA, as written, would be detrimental to the district and had to be opposed.

Veva’s persistence, backed by teachers and the broader community, paid off. In May 2026, with a packed board room and hours of public comment, the board reversed course and formally approved the resolution opposing SEDA in a 4-0 vote. Veva was direct about what was at stake: safeguarding the district’s fiscal solvency is the board’s job, and SEDA put that directly at risk.

The fight isn’t over — Fresno’s Planning Commission has continued advancing SEDA even without a financing plan in place, most recently in August 2026. But Veva has kept showing up, telling commissioners she was speaking on behalf of the district’s roughly 68,000 students and warning that the plan would hurt families.

Through pressure campaigns, tabled votes, and repeated commission hearings, Veva has stood shoulder to shoulder with teachers and staff, keeping one focus front and center: protecting Fresno Unified’s students, staff, and schools from a plan that could devastate the district’s future.