Years after payroll chaos led to teacher protests and inaccurate paychecks, San Francisco’s public school district is saying goodbye to its troubled internal systems.
Effective July 1, the San Francisco Unified School District will transition to a new suite of systems for payroll, benefits, accounting, and other employee management functions, Superintendent Maria Su said.
“As you can imagine, there are pain points when learning and working within a new system,” Su said. “But we’re excited to move forward.”
The new HR platforms, Frontline and Red Rover, will replace the current EMPower system. The switch marks a major milestone in SFUSD after the disastrous rollout of EMPower in 2022, which led to missed and inaccurate paychecks and overnight protests at the district’s central office.
The district has spent more than $10 million trying to fix the system, but payroll errors continue to occur.
An internal report obtained by The Standard shows that there were incorrect payments, particularly overpayments, as recently as early this year. The report included details of payment discrepancies and the names of affected employees, some of whom appeared to have been overpaid by five figures. The Standard attempted to reach several of the employees named but did not receive responses.
A third-party audit released in March indicated that approximately one in every 60 payments was an overpayment, and at least four payments were processed without timesheet approval. SFUSD is believed to process more than 10,000 financial transactions each month.
District spokesperson Laura Dudnick said the payroll errors “stemmed from complications” within the EMPower system, but some of the reported overpayments were actually earned stipends.
“Over the past year, we have drastically improved our payroll process and significantly reduced the number of overpayments, which are a standard part of all payroll systems, including stable ones,” Dudnick said.
It’s unclear whether the district has recouped the overpaid funds, though the affected employees are believed to have received formal notices. The discrepancies affected employees’ income tax; this year some were advised to delay submitting their tax returns due to the district’s incorrect information reported to the state.
The teachers union confirmed that it is helping the employees who were overpaid. United Educators of San Francisco Vice President Frank Lara cited a case in which an employee was reassigned from principal to teacher but continued receiving a principal-level salary, which disrupted the person’s taxes and pension contributions.
“As an organization managing a $1.3 billion budget, we can’t talk about educating students if the finances are all over the place,” Lara said. “We need to get the basics of HR and payroll right.”
Additionally, the San Francisco Police Department is investigating a case of alleged payroll fraud within the district.
Pricey new systems
The new HR systems come with a hefty price tag, at a time when the district is grappling with a deep budget deficit and layoffs.
According to district documents, preparation and design costs for the new systems are expected to total about $23 million retroactively from the 2023-24 school year through 2024-25.
The launch is projected to cost another $6 million for the following year. Once stabilized, beginning in 2026-27, the system will carry an ongoing annual cost of around $2 million.
“Well, it does take us a lot of money to stabilize the current system,” Su said. “However, when we do pivot to the new Frontline system, I believe that the amount will significantly reduce.”
About 60% of school districts in California are using Frontline. SFUSD officials say Frontline has committed to meeting the district’s timeline.
The district plans to strengthen internal controls across school sites before payroll is processed. The recent audit also recommended that the district hire a full-time internal auditor — a position SFUSD says it intends to fill soon — to prevent future payroll chaos.
“That cannot happen under my watch,” Su said. “It will not happen.”