San Francisco Unified School District faces payroll crisis as some teachers aren't getting paid

(The Center Square) — The San Francisco Unified School District faces issues with its payroll system, as some educators aren’t getting paid.

As SFUSD heads into the 2025-26 school year, about 100 educators have said they have had problems with their paychecks.

“I'm ashamed that that's my employer,” said Margaret Kothmann, a special education aide. She has not gotten paid for the summer and is missing about $1,200, she added,

Many educators have not been able to pay bills, and some have received eviction notices.

The district spent around $25 million to use the previous old payroll system, EMPower, and an additional $20 million for the new system, Frontline. Over the past few years, the district has faced financial challenges, even leading to some school closures.

“SFUSD is working to improve its financial and operational systems … If there are problems with employee pay, we are acting fast — investigating, making corrections, and issuing payments as needed,” the SFUSD said in a statement.

When The Center Square reached out for a comment, the SFUSD directed them to the website that has had no update since last week.

"It's extremely important and of highest priority to ensure we pay our employees accurately and on time," SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Maria Su said.

As of Aug. 12, 125 employees received their vacation pay, 15 payments were issued via paper check, 14 employee checks were processed in Frontline as manual checks, and seven employees chose to receive their vacation pay with the upcoming payroll on Wednesday.

Outraged, teachers, along with members of the United Educators of San Francisco, gathered last week for a press conference outside the district office. The union members have filed a formal complaint with the state labor board.

“District leadership must act now so educators and staff can focus on welcoming students back, not worrying about their paychecks,” UESF said.

"Especially for starting the school year, this is unacceptable," said Frank Lara, executive vice president of UESF. "School communities are already destabilized, and we want to start strong. We don't want this, unrelated to education, unrelated to our children, to affect us.”

The Center Square reached out to Superintendent Dr. Su, Gov. Gavin Newsom's Office and UESF for an update on this issue, but has not received a response.