The San Dieguito Union High School District school board voted 3-2 to approve salary increases for 52 SDUHSD employees as well as school board superintendent Rick Schmitt in a meeting on Thursday Jan. 14. The meeting was held at SDA’s media center, and was attended by over 50 SDUHSD teachers and community members.

Board members Maureen “Mo” Muir and John Salazar voted against both salary increases, stating fiscal concerns and the fear that the budget increase would leave the district vulnerable if the economy was hit with another recession. “If a recession happens, we are going to see two things happen,” said Salazar. “We’re going to see teacher layoffs, and we’re going to see class sizes explode.”

The other three board members were in favor of the raises, and said that after seven years without a raise, as costs of living continued to rise, the employees deserved the salary increase.

The vote would give raises to district employees who were not represented in the December vote to raise teacher salaries, such as administrators and managers. Their salaries would increase 12.5 percent, the same raise given to the teachers.

Superintendent Schmitt’s salary will retroactively increase beginning in July 2015 from $220,000 per year to $235,400, and on July 1 it will increase again to $248,347, according to an agenda posted to the district website.