San Ramon school officials criticized over raises during budget crisis

SAN RAMON, Calif. - There's trouble brewing at an East Bay school district, one of the nation's wealthiest, over pay and bonuses for the top of the district's management.

It’s a controversy over who gets pay raises and bonuses for past work. But, as it turns out, the San Ramon Valley Unified School District and many more, have much more to worry about next year.

The San Ramon Valley Unified School District has 36 schools serving 32,000 students, and is currently facing an $8 million budget shortage. A controversy has arisen regarding a retroactive 2.5% pay increase to employees of the district's headquarters staff, including the retiring superintendent.

Though not legally obligated to pay this money, Board President Greg Marvel says it has been the practice and tradition going back at least two decades.

"The raise that we gave our teachers is the exact same as we're giving management this year," said Marvel.

This is just part of the controversy.

"It's not a fair comparison to say, 'OK, they're getting a 2.5% raise here,'" said parent Amar Mann, who refers to an analysis of district pay by Transparent California, the state's largest pay and pension benefit watchdog. "Executives and managers at the district level, the top 20 employees, have experienced two and a half times the wage increases than our teachers and on-site administration, basically non-district people, have received."

Shelley Clark, a parent with a long time relationship with the district who's filed to run for a Board seat, says the managment raises are out of order.

"At the time of COVID-19, that's not a good decision at all, and not in the best interests of the students of San Ramon Valley Unified School District," said Clark. "When teacher's salary bases are so much lower and the admin salaries are so much higher, it's taking a bigger chunk out of our budget," said Clark.

However, the board president says fair is fair, "If you're gonna treat everybody equally, then you give the raise retroactively to when everybody else got it," said Marvel.

The parents also complain that superintendent, who makes $357,000 annually, and is retiring next month will get that retroactive pay plus a recent 5% retention bonus.

Marvel says that's not for retention, it's for past work done very well.

"It's every three years and only after they've received evaluations that are not just satisfactory, they have to exceed. They have to basically have received an outstanding evaluation," said Marvel.

Some parents disagree. 

"The school board, to some extent, has lost its way here," said Mann.

"I think they're out of touch with the needs of the school sites," said Clark

Next school year, this district alone will get as much as $35 million less from the state; an enormous cut of almost 10% of its entire budget.