By Jasmine Pettis
At a time when Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD) is asking families to consider closing neighborhood schools, one question remains unanswered: Have District leaders fully examined their own spending before asking the community to absorb the consequences?
The answer appears to be “no”. Recent salary data shows that DJUSD’s superintendent received more than $427,000 in total compensation in 2024, with several central office administrators earning well over $200,000 annually. At the same time, the District is discussing the drastic step of school closures as a necessary response to budget pressures.
DJUSD families have been told in Board Subcommittee meetings that there is “no fat left to trim.” That claim doesn’t hold up.
The two realities of rising administrative compensation and proposed school closures demand scrutiny. Allow me:
The Numbers Tell a Different Story
Compared to 54 California districts with similar enrollments, DJUSD ranks third in administrative spending. While peer districts spend an average of 6.27% of their budgets on administration, DJUSD spends 8.59%. That gap amounts to over $3 million annually, funds that would cover DJUSD’s projected annual deficits without eliminating a single neighborhood school.
DJUSD fails to answer a basic question: why did its administrative costs spike in 2020 while similar districts saw a decline? DJUSD claims that its higher administrative costs are a matter of accounting. But it has provided no evidence that other districts do things differently or explained how its own numbers were calculated.
DJUSD does not address the fact that the ratio of administrative compensation to teacher salaries is unusually high in Davis. On average, superintendents in comparable districts earn approximately 3.11 times the average teacher salary. In DJUSD, the multiple is 4.15 – placing it second highest. This disparity is not limited to the superintendent’s salary, because at least five additional administrators also exhibit elevated ratios.
Meanwhile, closing an elementary school, one of the most disruptive decisions a district can make, is projected to save roughly $610,000 in unrestricted general funds. This is approximately the same amount that could be saved by eliminating two, or at most three, positions not found at most other peer districts. For example, why are we allocating roughly $200,000 annually to an administrator on special assignment when nearly every comparable district operates effectively without such a position?
And yet, school closures are being treated as a starting point rather than a last resort. DJUSD should follow the lead of neighboring districts, such as Sacramento City Unified and San Francisco Unified, which are responding to budget deficits by first cutting administrative positions.
Growth at the Top, Constraints in the Classroom
From 2019 to 2024, compensation for 19 DJUSD administrative positions increased by more than $940,000. Some individual administrators saw raises exceeding 90%. Meanwhile, the average annual teacher salary, over the same period, showed just a 20% increase.
Executive Cabinet contracts include guaranteed annual increases that exceed those available to teachers through negotiated agreements. That means while teachers must fight for incremental gains at the bargaining table, DJUSD leadership receives predictable raises year after year, regardless of broader financial conditions.
How is it acceptable that DJUSD’s average teacher salaries rank lowest among similarly sized districts, while at least three executive administrators are among the highest paid?
Board Oversight Is Not Optional
School boards have a fiduciary responsibility to the public. Their role is to provide oversight, ask hard questions, and ensure financial decisions align with the best interests of students.
When tasked by the Board to identify solutions to DJUSD’s financial challenges, District staff proposed school closures, with no mention of reductions to their own compensation that could yield comparable savings. Despite repeated urging by community members and teachers to examine reductions to administration compensation before making cuts closest to students, the Board has avoided any such discussion.
Meanwhile, the Board continues to approve compensation increases at the top that are already well-above average salaries and benefits for similarly-sized districts, reinforcing the perception that top-level administrators are being protected while children, teachers, and property owners are being asked to absorb the cuts.
This Is About Trust
At its core, this is not just a budget conversation. It is a question of public trust.
The District is asking families to accept decisions that will reshape their neighborhoods, negatively affect their children, lower property values, and permanently alter the fabric of Davis schools and communities. Those are not small asks. They require confidence that every alternative has been seriously discussed, considered, and exhausted.
Right now, that trust is eroding significantly.
Because when school closures are presented as inevitable, while administrative spending continues largely unchanged and unchecked, it raises a deeper concern; not just about the numbers, but about the process behind them.
Trust is built when leaders demonstrate that they are willing to examine their own decisions and incorporate diverse perspectives into the process, something widely recognized as a best practice in public decision-making. It is strengthened when difficult choices are made transparently, consistently, and based on accurate data.
And it is lost when the community is asked to accept deeply consequential outcomes without seeing the full picture of how those decisions were made. And when simple questions such as this go unanswered: If closing a school saves $610,000, and administrative spending exceeds peer districts by more than $3 million…
Why are we starting with neighborhood schools?
Jasmine Pettis is a Davis parent and executive director of the California Breastfeeding Coalition.
Sources/Reference List:
Davisite 
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