The Pajaro Valley Unified School District board of trustees approved hiring a consultant for bond facilities support who had a previous violation for bidding fraud. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local file)
WATSONVILLE >> Pajaro Valley Unified School District hired a consultant last year to advise on its bond facilities projects who had previously faced an administrative order for bidding fraud while consulting school districts.
Terry Bradley was hired by PVUSD in June 2025 at roughly $400 an hour, but died the following month. His business partner Bill McGuire was hired as part of the same $200,000 contract, reported by Santa Cruz Local last week, and continued advising the district after Bradley’s death.
In 2010, Bradley started a business providing financial consulting for school districts in California after retiring as superintendent of Clovis Unified School District. In 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged he had committed bidding fraud while consulting school districts on hiring a bond advisor.
It was the first time the SEC had taken enforcement action on the municipal advisor antifraud rules in the Dodd-Frank Act, a 2010 law that is in part meant to protect local municipalities from predatory practices.
The SEC found that Bradley was being paid as an advisor by Keygent LLC, a municipal bonds advisor, and helped them win contracts by secretly providing confidential information belonging to five of his own clients, including draft interview questions and competitors’ proposals.
Bradley worked on the requests for proposals, or RFPs, for his school district clients. RFPs are a formal invitation for companies to submit proposals and bid on specific contracts. In at least one case, Bradley incorporated a change to an RFP that made a Keygent competitor look worse.
The SEC found Bradley violated rules that prohibits fraud, deception or manipulation while working on behalf of a municipal entity.
Bradley settled with the SEC and paid $50,000 without admitting or denying wrongdoing. He was also barred from serving as a municipal bonds adviser. He continued working as a school business consultant until his death last year.
McGuire, the other consultant hired by PVUSD, told Santa Cruz Local last week that Bradley was “a renowned school facilities expert.” McGuire said Bradley’s expertise and role in the PVUSD contract was lease-leaseback agreements and RFPs.
“I took over that role of helping the district implement the RFPs for the architect for the current lease-leaseback agreements that are out,” McGuire said.
When asked about Bradley’s SEC violation, McGuire called the question “character assassination” and noted that the settlement did not include an admission of guilt. “The answer was to pay the fine and eliminate any issues for him in his career,” McGuire said.
PVUSD Superintendent Heather Contreras, who brought the contract to the board for approval, did not respond to interview requests.
Alejandro Chavez, the district spokesperson, said he did not know anything about Bradley or his history.
“I honestly, I don’t know who he is or anything about the person, so I’ll look into that, and I’ll check in to find out what’s happening,” Chavez said on Wednesday.
“The Superintendent was aware of historical concerns involving individuals unrelated to Mr. McGuire in prior districts, but at no point was she presented with evidence demonstrating any wrongdoing by Mr. McGuire,” Chavez wrote in an emailed statement on Thursday in response to a request for comment about hiring Bradley.
Mads Realmuto, a district parent and active participant in board meetings, was surprised to learn about Bradley’s SEC violation in a phone call with Santa Cruz Local last week.
“I think the board needs to be willing to ask harder questions before decisions are made, not after,” Realmuto said.
The $200,000 contract was approved following a 90-second presentation by Contreras on June 25, 2025. The five board trustees present voted in favor without questions or discussion.
This is the second in a multi-part series on PVUSD’s finances. Part one was published last week. Sign up for Santa Cruz Local’s free newsletter to know when the next part is published.
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Nik Altenberg is a bilingual reporter and assistant editor at Santa Cruz Local. Nik Altenberg es reportera bilingüe y editora asistente para Santa Cruz Local.
