A former Northern California school superintendent has filed a lawsuit claiming she was wrongfully terminated and unfairly blamed for her district's near insolvency. Misti Livingston, who served as superintendent, principal, and special education teacher for the Oak Run Elementary School District in Shasta County, filed suit in Shasta County Superior Court in early 2025, alleging unlawful dismissal.
Livingston contends that county education officials and district board members wrongly accused her of submitting invalid attendance certifications and engaging in financial mismanagement. She claims the Shasta County Office of Education (SCOE) hindered her ability to manage the district by withholding administrative support, operational training, and financial oversight, forcing her to handle complex state accounting, payroll, and special education mandates largely on her own.
The district faced a severe financial crisis stemming from inflated Average Daily Attendance (ADA) figures reported between the 2021 and 2023 school years. Under California law, students lacking required immunization documentation or valid medical exemptions cannot be counted towards ADA, a rule that Livingston's lawsuit implies was not properly followed. The state disbursed funds based on these inflated numbers, ultimately imposing an $825,000 fiscal penalty on the district. For Oak Run, which operated on an annual budget of approximately $775,000, this penalty proved catastrophic.
In December 2023, SCOE declared Oak Run to be at high risk of insolvency. A subsequent fiscal health risk analysis in June 2024 indicated the district was only narrowly avoiding an official “High Risk” classification for total financial failure.
The lawsuit further alleges that an assigned SCOE accountant lacked fundamental knowledge of state budgeting and financial reconciliation. Livingston also claims SCOE delayed reimbursements to the district. Despite these challenges, the district's board renewed Livingston's contract in July 2024, extending her term through June 2027.
Livingston's legal action comes after previous accusations of check fraud, theft, and civil rights violations made by former staff members. These claims were forwarded by SCOE to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) in an attempt to revoke Livingston's credentials. However, a Sheriff's Office investigation cleared her of financial theft, SCOE confirmed no public funds were misappropriated, and the CTC closed its investigation without disciplinary action in 2024.
Livingston asserts that these exonerations demonstrate the district's financial problems were systemic and administrative, not due to misappropriated funds. Despite a recent contract renewal and a positive performance evaluation, she was placed on administrative leave in December 2024 and officially terminated “without cause” in January 2025. Livingston argues that “without cause” was a pretext for retaliation, stemming from her formal complaints to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the California Civil Rights Department, and state education officials, as well as her disclosures to the media about SCOE's alleged administrative failures.