Paula Heupel has led an impressive, linear career in education that has taken her through the ranks of local academia — from classroom teacher and school principal to top executive, administrative liaison, and district superintendent.
And now, Heupel says she’s ready to step forward once again to become the Superintendent of Schools for the Merced County Office of Education.
“When Dr. Tietjen decided to move into retirement, it seemed to me that my career had been preparing me for this,” she says. “I am the only candidate who has served an executive role in the Merced City School District — the largest district in the county — as well as in a small rural district. So I have this perspective … I have seen the challenges that are faced by our smaller school districts, and I have worked on statewide initiatives for the Office of Education.”
She adds, “I’ve spent 37 years doing this. It’s who I am. I want every child in our community to be able to be equipped to make the choice to live a fulfilling life. And I’ve spent my entire career supporting staff, and districts, and the county office, and our communities in doing that. So it would just be an honor to continue that work.”
Heupel faces three opponents in the race for the open Superintendent of Schools seat: Alberto Velarde, a retired school administrator; Ana Boyenga, an assistant superintendent; and Richard Lopez, a superintendent. Voters will have a chance to make a decision on the upcoming June 2 Primary ballot.
The 60-year-old Heupel is currently the superintendent of the El Nido Elementary School District, a small, rural, one-school district that serves about 160 students with a family-oriented, community-based educational approach. The student population is predominantly Hispanic, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and “English learners.”
Heupel has been in the superintendent position for the past four years, and during that time she is credited for her role in increasing academic performance to the highest English Language Arts and Math outcomes among similar schools in California. The percentage of “Long-Term English Learners” at El Nido Elementary has dropped dramatically, from 21 percent to 3 percent, and in 2025, 80 percent of her 8th grade students were placed into Math 2 as freshmen. She also initiated programs to reduce chronic absenteeism, which decreased sharply, from 15.9 percent in 2021-22 to 4 percent in 2024-25.
Meanwhile, Heupel has secured some $2 million in grants and another $750,000 in community partnerships in the areas of health, welfare, food security and workforce development.
“We’ve done absolutely amazing things,” Heupel says of El Nido. “The students are responding and they are just so happy, and the community is responding as well. … My first year was just a lot of asking questions, and having meetings with people, and then we came up first with our values and beliefs as an entire community. So what do we value in education?
“We had excellent staff. Their hearts were there for the kids. There was a wonderful environment where students could be children and focus on learning. It was simply looking at the opportunities for how we enhance that. … I believe a lot in professional development and ongoing training. We have to stay current, and we kind of tested the boundaries a little bit. And so we put in some instructional systems for benchmarking. Where are students performing? Where should they be performing? How do we accelerate their learning so they are on track, and how do we communicate that? How do we get that without it being a bunch of testing? That’s the trick. Because, you know, you’re going to have to have some standardized testing, but it’s really more about being performance-based.”
Heupel, the candidate, points to the “big three” issues she feels is critical to her campaign platform and the current state of education in the county.
• Prioritizing family engagement and keeping parents invested. Heupel says she will expand communication between schools and families while ensuring parents have the opportunity to participate in their students’ educational decisions.
• Strong intervention programs, improved curriculum and expanded technology access. Heupel promises to boost student academic support as well as career technical education to “equip every child for success.”
• Transparency, accountability and smart investments when it comes to the county education budget and maximizing benefits for students, teachers and schools.
“When I talk about my vision for the county,” Heupel explains, “it’s not to make it look like El Nido, or Merced City, but I want to support every district so that they can find those systems, and have those resources, to be responsive to their communities and their students’ needs, so every one of our kids is prepared. I am concerned about that, but I also want to build on a lot of the progress that has already happened.”
Graduation rates are promising across the county, she points out as an example; however, she says there’s more work to be done on improving preparation for “college-going” and “college completion” rates for local students.
Local Girl From Hilmar
Paula Heupel grew up on a family farm in Hilmar, and learned to ride horses at an early age. Her father had served in the U.S. Air Forces and was stationed at Castle. He also worked for Sears Roebuck for a time. Her mother was a school teacher at Elim Elementary School.
Heupel was very active growing up. She was a Girl Scout, 4-H and FFA member who showed animals at multiple county fairs in Merced and Stanislaus counties. She was in band, and played the piano and saxophone. She was a song leader, but also performed as a letter carrier. Between her junior and senior year at Hilmar High School, she was selected to study as an exchange student in Germany for the summer in what she describes as a “life-changing experience.”
“It was great growing up in a small community because you had the opportunity to explore a lot of things,” she says.
Heupel graduated in 1984, and went on to earn a Liberal Studies Degree from CSU Fresno, with a minor in Agricultural Business. She later completed a master’s at Fresno Pacific University, an Administrative Credential at CSU Stanislaus, and an Education Finance Certification from Georgetown University.
She began her career in 1989 with Merced City Schools, serving as a classroom and library media teacher at Fremont Elementary, under Principal Audrey Robinson. Heupel describes her first mentor as “a blessing and a brilliant educator” who helped shape her career. Heupel went on to be recognized as a Teacher Leader in the launching of the Fremont Charter School (#90 in the state at the time). She also developed an arts integration program with County Art Tree.
In 2001, Heupel moved into district leadership, launching initiatives as a District Coordinator of Mathematics for PreK–8 and Special Education. She managed over $2 million in grants, led Summer Algebra and Language Academies, and served as liaison for the UC Merced Science & Math Initiative.
From there, Heupel served as Assistant Principal (2007-09) and Principal (2009-13) of Chenoweth Elementary, which received Academic Achievement Awards in 2010 and 2011.
From 2013 to 2020, she led curriculum, instruction, and technology efforts and managed budgets for the Merced City School District, reaching the position of Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services.
In 2020, Heupel joined the Merced County Office of Education to drive countywide implementation plans in Early Childhood and K–12, expanding college and university resources for districts, before taking a position as superintendent of the El Nido School District.
Heupel married her husband Keith in 1992. They built a farming business in Le Grand, where they raised two children who went on to graduate from Golden Valley High School and pursue university degrees.
Today, in addition to her duties as El Nido School Superintendent, Paula Heupel serves as an executive board member of the Dignity Health Merced Medical Foundation.