Unions Unite Against Admin Raises as County Warns Pacifica Schools on Fiscal Distress

The Pacifica School District's Sept. 9 board meeting laid bare a district caught between modestly improved finances and deep frustration from its own workforce — with both teachers' and classified employees' unions delivering forceful objections to proposed administrator raises while the county's fiscal watchdog warned the board that a state takeover remains a real possibility without disciplined budget execution.

• Both unions blast proposed 3% administrator raises, calling them an insult to classified workers earning $28.60/hour after 22 years and a betrayal of collective bargaining

• San Mateo County fiscal oversight finds Pacifica still under "going concern" designation, with $4.1M in required structural cuts and the threat of state takeover if cash runs out

• Surprise shift to basic-aid status adds $902,000 in one-time revenue, boosting reserves to 6% — but the structural deficit remains

• Public commenter demands stabilization plan be translated into real budget line items before the revised budget is submitted

• Teachers union opens 2026-27 contract negotiations on pay, hours, class size, and calendar

• Board schedules Sept. 23 special meeting to review revised budget, stabilization plan, and the explosive administrator raise proposal

The sharpest exchanges of the evening came during communications, when representatives of both the Laguna Salada Education Association and CSEA Chapter 128 delivered a coordinated rebuke of the superintendent's proposal to give administrators a 3% retroactive raise for 2025-26 and an additional 3% for 2026-27.