School District’s CFO Resigns in the Wake of Teachers’ Contract Dispute

• Malibu School Bus Issue Was First Indication of Friction


BY HANS LAETZ

The Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District’s chief financial officer has resigned, following a disagreement with new Superintendent Dianne Talarico over whether the district could afford an expensive three-year salary contract with its teachers.

Winston Braham, who served for two years as assistant superintendent for business services, ostensibly tendered his resignation after clashing with the new superintendent over the $7 million pay increase package.

Talarico announced late Tuesday that the SMMUSD was hiring a financial consulting firm called Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team to look at the district’s current situation and future projections.

“I don’t really believe there’s any reason to consider that we have any financial crisis,” she hastened to add.

Earlier this month, Braham refused to sign a budget projection required by state law, and noted on the document that he could not certify that the district’s reserve fund would cover the third year of the contract.

The district’s Citizen Finance Oversight Committee sided with Braham and voiced its “deep concern” that the district would deplete its $7.2 million contingency fund in the third year of the deal.

“We agreed to disagree that we could afford this raise,” Talarico told the Malibu Surfside News, after announcing her second-in-command’s departure.

“Something made him decide not to certify the document, but based on my understanding of [the district’s financial situation], I don’t think there’s going to be an issue in year three,” Talarico added.

Kathy Wisnicki, who is the only SMMUSD board member from Malibu, said that Braham resigned for personal reasons, and answered, “No, absolutely not” when asked if his resignation was over the budget estimate.

“The district has every reason to believe that we can afford the settlement, and that we are in excellent financial shape,” she said.

Earlier this year, Talarico had voiced public unhappiness with Braham and the district’s transportation director over delays in adding an additional morning school bus run from the Sunset Mesa and Topanga Beach areas, where as many as 90 students were crowding onto buses designed for 60.

In this week’s interview, she agreed that the bus fiasco had left her angry with Braham and others, but said that this was not a factor in his resignation.

“I’m very dissatisfied when I tell the community something will be done, and it doesn’t get done, and my integrity is on the line,” she said.

Wisnicki noted that it is not unusual for a new superintendent to change top leadership, and said former Superintendent John Deasy did the same thing when he came to the district.

Braham is the second assistant superintendent to resign from the district this year. Last spring, former Malibu High School principal Mike Matthews stepped down after it became apparent that the school board would not hire him as the permanent replacement for Deasy, who left earlier in the year.