Santa Rosa school district mulls massive raise for finance chief despite being on brink of collapse

Weeks after 80 employees received layoff notices from Santa Rosa City Schools, district trustees are voting on a pay raise for interim fiscal chief Luz Cázares. If approved, she would receive $76,000 in additional compensation. The district’s finances are described as severely mismanaged, with too many workers hired for the revenue generated. Student enrollment fell from about 16,000 in 2016 to under 12,000 in 2025, reducing typical state funding tied to enrollment. Michael Fine of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team warned the district has serious cash issues. Cázares was hired in July part-time to help fix the situation after leadership changes, and she is credited with cutting the budget by $2.8 million this year and more than $30 million over the next two years.

"Weeks after 80 employees received layoff notices from Santa Rosa City Schools, district trustees are voting on Luz Cázares' substantial pay raise. If approved, she will receive $76,000 in additional compensation for her duties. Cázares' new deal comes despite the district's messy financial mismanagement. The district brought in too many new workers for the revenue it was generating, authorities said."

"At the same time, student enrollment dropped from 16,000 in 2016 to under 12,000 in 2025. California districts are typically paid based on the number of students enrolled. Michael Fine, CEO of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, told the district that it has "some serious cash issues." "Far more serious than any other district in the state. I don't understand why you are always out of cash," he added."

"Cázares was brought on in July part-time to help fix the district's financial situation as the person formerly in her position, Lisa August Hulme, became interim superintendent after the district's prior superintendent Daisy Morales was ousted. She's a financial consultant who taught education graduate students as a professor at UC Berkeley and assisted schools in fractured financial situations. She also worked as the chief financial officer for the Alameda Unified School District for more than four years, according to her LinkedIn."

"Cázares has been credited with steering the school out of its tough financial situation and has worked far more hours than anticipated. She cut the district's budget by $2.8 million in the current fiscal year and more than $30 million in the two upcoming years. "We knew that this year was going to take a lot of work but I don't think we knew exactly how much," district spokesperson Patrick Gannon told The Press Democrat."

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