Don Austin, who was paid $596,802 to step down as Palo Alto school superintendent, has been hired by the Laguna Beach Unified School District.
Sheri Morgan, president of the Laguna Beach school board, said in a statement that Austin was in “high demand” by districts when he exited the Palo Alto schools.
Austin, after eight years as superintendent, left the Palo Alto Unified School District following a “mutual agreement” with the Board of Education announced on Feb. 20, 2026. The agreement stopped Austin from suing the district. It called for him to serve as “Superintendent Emeritus” through June 30.
Coincidentally, the Laguna Beach district removed its last superintendent, Jason Glass, by means of a separation agreement.
Laguna Beach, in announcing Austin’s hiring, said the Palo Alto schools “ranked as the #1 school district in California during five of his nearly eight years of service.”
Austin is familiar with Laguna Beach. He previously served as principal of Laguna Beach High School.
It is no wonder that public school education is in such bad shape in California. The superintendent gigs are like a little club to belong to, as soon as your time is up at one district on to the next leaving all the baggage behind to be cleaned up. Austin is like a cockroach, he just creates baggage wherever he goes not caring whose lives he has destroyed and just takes his show to the next district. By the way, those Niche ratings are because of the kids, aka the cliental and has absolutely nothing to do with Don Austin. PAUSD has always been a great district because of the kids and students and parental involvement. Don Austin, the used car salesman that he is, just seized upon those ratings to look good for his own self interest. Only in education can a sup leave the district facing 11 lawsuits, paid a single teacher 3.25 million for major screwups on his watch, and end up with another gig. What a raquet! Now I’m interested to see how fast his buddy Trent gets hired by Laguna Beach.