The San Francisco Unified School District rolled out an expensive payroll system last month. It’s off to a rocky start.
Anger is mounting among members of United Educators of San Francisco after more than 100 teachers reported they’ve been underpaid, along with other payroll issues.
“We have about 150 members not paid,” said Frank Lara, vice president of UESF. “There are growing concerns about the functionality of the system.”
UESF has filed a formal complaint with the state labor board and is threatening further action, including a strike. The union will hold a protest before Tuesday night’s school board meeting.
Liyao Zhu, an after-school and summertime teacher at Commodore Stockton Early Education School and a paraeducator at Phillip and Sala Burton Academic School, told The Standard she is owed more than $3,000 for her work in July.
“I am very disappointed — so many problems came up as soon as this new system was launched,” Zhu said.
She added that the system also failed to record her accumulated sick leave, wrongly charged her union dues, and incorrectly deducted her retirement contributions.
SFUSD on July 1 transitioned to a new suite of payroll, benefits, accounting, and employee management platforms called Frontline and Red Rover, replacing the EMPower system, which had a disastrous rollout in 2022, resulting in a high-profile overnight sit-in at district headquarters.
Union leaders said it’s worrisome that the new payroll system struggles with even the relatively small number of summer staff, raising doubts about how it will handle thousands of employees returning next week for the new school year. They chose to escalate their concerns quickly to avoid a repeat of the 2022 fiasco.
“We learned that this district only understands protests and lawsuits,” Lara said, hinting that the union is considering a strike if the problem continues.
ABC7 reported last week on the paraeducator pay issue; a teacher was waiting for a $1,200 payment, and the issue was reportedly resolved by Friday. UESF has previously sent a cease-and-desist letter to SFUSD over payroll issues.
The system transition has been costly. Preparation and design costs were projected at $23 million for the 2023–24 and 2024–25 school years. The launch will cost another $6 million in 2025–26, with ongoing annual costs of around $2 million starting in 2026–27.
SFUSD spokesperson Laura Dudnick defended the new payroll system, saying it “will be an improvement” but acknowledging that the district is working to address the errors through an “expedited process.”
“We’ve been closely monitoring any issues that arise to immediately address any discrepancies for employees,” Dudnick said in a statement.
But for Patricia Ross, a paraeducator, the loss of a couple of thousand dollars stings.
“The emotions are all over the place — hurt, angry, confused,” Ross said. “We just ended one fiasco with EMPower, and now we’re dealing with this again.”