SFUSD paraeducators missing summer pay ahead of new school year, union says

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- As students and staff with San Francisco Unified are getting ready for the beginning of the new school year, a group of the district's employees are still waiting on missing pay from over the summer.

"I'm ashamed that that's my employer," said Margaret Kothmann, a special education aide who doesn't work or get paid during the summer because she is a paraeducator. Kothmann was still counting on some income to come through.

"We accrue vacation hours," said Kothmann. "Many of us plan to use those vacation hours in the summer recess because we cannot collect unemployment, we will not be paid."

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Kothmann is missing about $1,200 worth of pay, money she needs and now.

"I mean, that's my income in the summer, you know? Food, living expenses, medical bills, veterinary bills, my cat just got hurt," said Kothmann. "Life, anything."

Kothmann's not alone. Her union representative is Teanna Tillery, Vice President for Paraeducators of the United Educators of San Francisco. Tillery told ABC7 News that dozens of paraeducators like teacher's aides and special education aides, were impacted. She says in just one day, she heard from about 75 of them.

"They've gotten 30-day notices because they have not been able to pay their rent yet," said Tillery.

On Monday, Tillery and about 20 paraeducators went to the payroll office hoping to get clarification and their missing pay.

"One paraeducator said, 'I have $8 left in my account,'" said Tillery.

SFUSD tells ABC7 News:

We understand how important timely and accurate compensation is, and we are actively working with any staff who raise concerns to resolve potential discrepancies as quickly as possible. We are committed to ensuring that all employees are paid correctly and appreciate everyone's patience as we continue to transition to the new employee resource system.

This transition represents a major step toward standardizing SFUSD's business processes, strengthening internal systems, and improving overall efficiency. It is not uncommon for challenges to arise during an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) transition of this scale-especially given the outdated systems SFUSD had been using for many years. We want to reassure our staff and community that SFUSD is prepared and ready to support employees throughout this transition. Based on lessons learned from prior efforts, the district has implemented several support systems to assist staff who may be experiencing issues or have questions about their paychecks.

More information on the transition can be found here.

The previous system cost the district $35 million. SFUSD spent another $20 million to implement the new system launched in July.

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"That could have gone to our students. That could have gone to our educators," said Tillery, referring to money spent. "That could have gone to uplift SFUSD."

SFUSD said the payroll issues aren't because of errors with the new system, but the new system does have a different way of accounting for vacation hours for certain types of employees, adding that a resolution team is available to help.

"I don't know how they did not see this coming, as this is their responsibility, not ours," said Kothmann.

"It gives me pause and it makes me wonder what else, what other shortcomings come with this system," said Tillery. "We do not want to have another fiasco."

On Friday, the union notified ABC7 News that SFUSD processed the checks and paradefucators should now be seeing their money.