Why Simi Valley Schools Are Asking Parents for Paper While Superintendent Hani Youssef and His Cabinet Get Raises

By Adam Loew | June 16, 2026

Simi Valley Unified School District is asking P at the same time it is increasing pay for its top administrators. Amid falling state test scores, declining enrollment, and rising executive compensation, the district has placed itself under a level of public scrutiny it could have avoided. While families at at least one elementary school were asked for voluntary monetary donations for copy paper, the school board approved $77,003 in combined salary increases for the superintendent and senior cabinet on June 9, 2026.

For many parents and Simi Valley taxpayers, that contrast is hard to ignore. California law allows schools to seek voluntary donations, but supplies, materials, and equipment needed for educational activities must still be provided free of charge, and student participation cannot be conditioned on payment or donations.

ESCALATING EXECUTIVE PAY

On June 9, 2026, Dr. Hani Youssef received an additional $18,814.55, bringing his annual salary to $328,208.68. Under the terms described in this article, his contract runs through June 30, 2030, with a 4 percent annual raise built in.

Those figures matter because they shape public perceptions of the district’s priorities. When executive compensation rises while schools are asking families to contribute toward basic supplies, the board should expect close attention from parents and taxpayers.

The trajectory of Youssef’s compensation tells part of that story. When he was an assistant superintendent in 2021, he earned $186,391. By 2023, as superintendent, he was earning $270,760. His current salary of $328,208.68 reflects an increase of more than $100,000 over four years.

A DONATION LETTER TO FAMILIES

Vista Elementary is a Simi Valley Unified school. According to the letter cited in this article, families were told: “Due to newly purchased District Xerox Copy machines, we are asking for voluntary monetary donations to purchase approved paper through our District Warehouse. Please make checks out to Vista Elementary. Thank you!”

That wording matters. Even when a request is framed as voluntary, it can still raise questions if the items involved are ordinary classroom necessities. California guidance draws a line between permissible voluntary donations and impermissible requirements that families provide materials students need to participate in educational activities.

The issue, then, is not whether schools can ever ask for help. They can. The issue is what it says about district priorities when an elementary school is asking families for paper donations in the same season that top administrators receive substantial pay increases.

WHAT $77,003 COULD BUY

The $77,003 in executive raises is not an abstraction. Simi Valley Unified serves 15,444 students according to multiple public sources. Consider what that amount could have purchased instead:

A basic back-to-school supply kit at approximately $9.67 per student would allow that same amount to cover more than half the district’s enrollment. At $5.00 per student, it would go a long way toward equipping every child in the district with basic classroom tools. These comparisons do not prove wrongdoing. They do, however, illustrate why taxpayers may reasonably question the district’s spending priorities.

CLASSROOM REALITY

For years, teachers in Simi Valley Unified have been expected to do more with less, even as district schools tell families that classroom supplies may be requested as voluntary donations. On school supply lists, those requests include items such as copy paper, tissues, glue sticks, markers, and other shared classroom materials.

A retired Simi Valley Unified School District teacher described how limited classroom support could be in practice:

“I retired last year from an elementary school. We received one case of paper and $100 a year for supplies per class. It should be known at all schools what the teachers receive and how much they have to spend because it is absurd!” — retired Simi Valley Unified School District teacher

That account sharpens the larger debate over district priorities. While district leaders funnel funds to raises rather than to students, families and teachers are still being asked to help fill basic classroom supply gaps, raising a broader question about whether the district is facing real financial strain or making choices that leave classrooms behind.

BIG-CITY PAY IN A SMALL DISTRICT

One major issue in Simi Valley is not simply that the superintendent is well paid, but that his compensation is out of scale with the size of the system he leads. To put that in perspective, consider how his salary compares with the leaders of some of the nation’s largest school districts.

New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago all educate student populations that dwarf Simi Valley Unified’s enrollment, yet their top executives earn only modestly more in absolute dollars. When those salaries are translated into a cost per student, Simi Valley’s number stands apart: the superintendent here costs dramatically more per child than counterparts overseeing tens or even hundreds of times as many students.

In an ordinary year, that disparity might be an obscure budget detail. In a year when elementary families are being asked to donate copy paper and classroom supplies, it becomes harder to dismiss. The comparison underscores the central tension in the district’s finances: a compensation structure at the top that looks like big‑city pay, set against school‑level requests that suggest there is not enough money for the basics.

No comparison is perfect, and each district has its own structure and labor market. Still, the disparity is large enough to invite a fair public debate about whether compensation in Simi Valley is aligned with district size, student need, and visible conditions on the ground. On a per‑student basis, Hani Youssef’s salary—about 21 dollars per child—is far out of line with what other large districts spend on their top executives.

CABINET RAISES APPROVED THE SAME NIGHT

Youssef’s raise was only one part of what the board approved on June 9. New contracts for his senior cabinet were also approved that night:

Together, those increases total $77,003 per year and will recur annually under the approved compensation structure described here. The article also notes that the board preserved the option to grant additional raises retroactive to July 1, 2026.

That context matters because it shows the issue is broader than one individual contract. It is a districtwide compensation decision made at the top of the organization.

BOARD OVERSIGHT AND PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY

The votes were recorded and publicly available, and all trustees voted yes on all six agreements, according to the meeting account described in this article. That alone makes the decision a matter of public accountability, not private grievance.

The board’s role is not simply to approve contracts. It is to test them against the district’s overall condition, its obligations to students, and the confidence of the families it serves. When schools are simultaneously asking for voluntary donations for basic supplies, that oversight responsibility becomes more important, not less.

POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES

That vote may carry political consequences for at least two trustees who supported it. Dr. Stephen Pietrolungo faces reelection to the Simi Valley Unified Board of Trustees in November 2026, and Kareem Jubran is running for Mayor of Simi Valley.

Those facts make the June 9 vote more than an internal administrative matter. It is now part of the public record voters will use to judge how these officials define fiscal responsibility and whose interests they place first.

The contrast is troubling even without any allegation of unlawful conduct. It is enough to ask whether district leadership and the board made choices that prioritized executive compensation over public confidence and classroom needs.

THE PRIORITIES QUESTION

Hani Youssef is not a passive observer of the district’s circumstances. As superintendent, he helps set them. He negotiates his compensation, helps shape district priorities, and leads a cabinet whose pay continues to rise, even as at least one district school has asked families for voluntary donations for basic supplies.

That contrast is the heart of the issue. Whatever explanation the district may offer, many parents and Simi Valley taxpayers are likely to see in it a revealing statement about priorities: stability and growth at the top, and fresh requests to families at the classroom level.

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