Two and a half years after taking the helm of Pajaro Valley Unified School District, Superintendent Heather Contreras will be leaving for a new post.
Contreras has been selected to become superintendent of San Luis Coastal Unified School District on July 1, 2027, following the retirement of current Superintendent Eric Prater, according to a Facebook post by SLCUSD Trustee Michael Glavan.
The SLCUSD Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote on her appointment Tuesday night.
“We are excited to welcome Dr. Contreras to San Luis Coastal Unified School District (SLCUSD),” Glavan wrote. “With 25 years of experience in public education and a strong commitment to students, educators, and community, she brings a wealth of leadership and dedication to our district.”
Contreras did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Her departure will come a little more than three years after she took the helm of PVUSD on May 1, 2024.
Contreras began her tenure with what she called a “Look, Listen and Learn” tour, meeting with students, teachers, community members, nonprofit organizations and law enforcement officials to assess the state of the district.
In a 2025 interview with The Pajaronian, Contreras said those meetings generated more than 1,500 responses that helped shape district goals covering academics, professional development, fiscal responsibility and employee recruitment and retention.
Much of Contreras’ tenure has been dominated by PVUSD’s financial challenges, including declining enrollment and the expiration of one-time federal Covid-19 relief funding that had been used to pay for employees.
As the district faced millions of dollars in reductions, Contreras oversaw the creation of the Sustainable Budget Team, a 24-member group tasked with examining the district’s finances and recommending cuts.
Contreras told The Pajaronian in 2025 that the process was designed both to involve the community in difficult budget decisions and to help the public better understand school finance.
“School finance is really complex,” she said at the time. “There are so many rules that govern how we spend our money. So I think it’s been a real educational tool for people.”
Her tenure also included the passage of Measure M, the $315 million general obligation bond approved by voters in November 2024 to fund construction and renovation projects throughout the district.
Contreras has also worked to increase student involvement in district governance. That included creating the “Core Six,” a group of students who meet with the superintendent before Board of Trustees meetings to review agendas and provide feedback to the district’s student trustee.
PVUSD has also worked under Contreras to address declining enrollment by expanding programs and looking for ways to keep students in the district. Those efforts have included expanding Mar Vista Elementary School to serve transitional kindergarten through eighth grade, restructuring Pacific Coast Charter School and exploring an early-college partnership with Cabrillo College.
At the same time, the district has continued to struggle with academic performance, particularly in math, as students recover from learning losses associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Contreras’ time with the district has also been marked by turmoil on the Board of Trustees, where discussions have at times veered away from district business and into disputes among board members.
The Pajaronian will update this story as more information becomes available.
