Skip to content
LBUSD Timeline
op-ed Stu News Laguna

The Great Superintendent Swap: A $1.3 million lesson in governance

Stu News Laguna · Dawn Hunnicutt

Author
Published:
2026-06-16
Retrieved:
2026-06-16
URL:
https://stunewslaguna.com/letters-to-the-editor-061626-2/

Letter to the editor (opinion/advocacy, board-minority-aligned) by Dawn Hunnicutt, a retired LBHS English teacher writing from Eagle, Idaho. The first published attempt to total the cost of the Glass->Roychowdhury->Austin superintendent transition: approximately $1,306,896 gross, or about $978,896 adjusted after crediting the ~$353,000 the district would have paid a superintendent anyway plus a ~$25,000 search. CAVEAT: the ledger is the author's own assembly, not a district accounting. The base salaries ($435,000 Glass / $450,000 Austin) and the $1,783/day interim rate corroborate other corpus sources, but the Glass ~$766,451 total (severance terms), the $30,000 moving / $60,000 housing line items, Austin's $18,000 TSA (equal to the 4% TSA in the contract summary) plus five guaranteed days at $2,008/day, and the 0.5%->1% CSEA/LaBUFA raise sequence are advocacy-assembled and NOT verified against the BoardDocs primary records. Election framing names Morgan/Hills/Perry, but only Perry of that trio is on the November 2026 ballot.

Key points

  • Totals the superintendent transition at ~$1,306,896 gross / ~$978,896 adjusted — the author's own assembly, not a district figure.
  • Glass: ~$766,451 total district investment (10 months plus separation), from a $435,000 base, $30,000 moving, and up to $60,000 housing.
  • Austin: ~$478,040 minimum first-year package — $450,000 base, an $18,000 tax-sheltered annuity, and five guaranteed days at $2,008/day.
  • Roychowdhury interim: ~$62,405 for about 35 days at $1,783/day between the two superintendents.
  • Juxtaposes the spend against a CSEA/LaBUFA raise that went from a 0.5% offer to a 1% settlement, and pivots to a November 2026 ballot argument against the board majority.

Cited by 4 events

  1. June 4 board agenda includes item on the applicability of Board Policy 2120

    Hunnicutt itemizes the Austin contract approved June 4 at ~$478,040 minimum first-year: $450,000 base plus an $18,000 TSA (equal to the 4% TSA in the contract summary) plus five guaranteed days at $2,008/day. The $2,008/day and the TSA-as-longevity gloss are the author's; the $450,000 base is corroborated.

  2. Manoj Roychowdhury's interim superintendency begins

    At a daily rate of $1,783, that temporary assignment adds roughly $62,405 to the superintendent-transition ledger.

    Adds the interim cost (~35 days at $1,783/day) to the swap ledger. The $1,783/day rate corroborates the June 4 board record.

  3. Board appoints Dr. Don Austin as next superintendent

    Enter Austin just 48 hours later.

    Frames the May 12 separation and May 14 Austin appointment as a board-engineered two-district swap (Austin out of PAUSD, into LBUSD; Glass the reverse).

  4. Board votes 3–2 in closed session on Glass separation; joint statement issued

    His daily rate, accrued vacation days, severance package and earnings for ten months of employment bring the district's investment in Glass to approximately $766,451.

    Hunnicutt's cost read of the May 12 Glass separation — a ~$766,451 total investment for ten months. Advocacy-assembled; severance terms not verified against the separation agreement itself.