Teachers, parents, and community members packed the Atascadero Unified School District board meeting on Feb. 3, many wearing red and orange school colors, to urge administrators to reconsider not offering a cost-of-living pay adjustment (COLA) for educators.
Despite receiving a 2.3 percent COLA adjustment through the state, the district previously said it would not be offering a salary adjustment.
Representatives from the Atascadero District Teachers Association told the board that passing that adjustment along to teachers would not constitute a raise but would simply allow educators to keep pace with inflation and the high cost of living in San Luis Obispo County.
“Teacher salaries at AUSD are consistently among the lowest in the county. Appallingly low compared to the cost of living in this county,” community member Robin Dery said during public comment.
Teachers Association President Andrew Weatherly said the association had recently visited school sites across the district and spoke directly with teachers. Their concerns included a lack of classroom support, insufficient supplies, large class sizes, and limits on materials—including restrictions on how many copies teachers can make and reports that some educators are buying printer paper out of pocket.
Teachers also described workload disparities compared to neighboring districts. Dery said AUSD teachers typically teach six out of seven periods per day, while most local districts require five out of six, resulting in roughly 36 fewer hours of preparation time each year.
The district’s salary schedule was another recurring concern. Multiple speakers said AUSD teachers’ salaries rank among the lowest in the county.
Shauna Schimmelpfenning, a third-grade teacher at Santa Rosa Academic Academy with more than three decades in education, said the lack of a cost-of-living adjustment has already reduced her take-home pay.
“I am making about $100 less this year due to no COLA,” she told board members. “I do not know of any other profession where experience, wisdom, and seniority are met with reductions in pay.”
Schimmelpfenning added that if the pattern continues, she expects to retire earning $600 to $700 less per month than she currently makes
The Teachers Association warned that compensation issues are driving educators away from the district and discouraging new teachers from applying.
“This hits us very hard as we are trying to move forward in the future years and we want to make sure that we are actually hiring the best quality young individuals and bringing them to our community,” Weatherly said.
Several speakers pointed to high teacher turnover and its impact on students, citing research linking turnover to lower academic performance, particularly in math and reading. Others said the district has a disproportionately high number of students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP), increasing demands on staff without corresponding support.
Jehan Mirzaei, a teacher at Atascadero Middle School, told the board he was resigning over what he described as a failure to address student safety and well-being. He said students have expressed fear about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and are anxious about being at school.
Mirzaei said he asked administrators to make a school-wide statement clarifying district policy and reassuring students, but he was told the matter would be handled on a case-by-case basis.
“Until the adults can be braver with their voices than the students have to be with their physical selves, I will not be working at AMS,” Mirzaei said. “This is my last day.”
Superintendent Tom Bennett told New Times in an email that the district acknowledges and understands the concerns raised by educators and the broader community. He added that the district is facing “significant budget challenges.”
“The state’s 2.3 percent cost-of-living adjustment applied to district ADA helps offset a portion of increased operational expenses, but it does not fully close the gap between revenues and expenditures that many districts are experiencing, especially in the context of enrollment declines,” he said.
He also noted that the district launched a 90-day budget subcommittee task force to review the current budget, identify potential reductions, improve efficiencies, and explore opportunities to reallocate resources. ∆
This article appears in Feb 5-12, 2026.