Finance boss quits School Districts

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER
Ed Diaz, the Santa Barbara School District’s finance czar, resigned from his post as assistant superintendent of business services last Friday.
Diaz’s departure comes in the midst of a budget shakeup at the districts, the main focus of which has been the revelation by Diaz during a June budget hearing that the usually cash-strapped district had a healthy surplus of $2.8 million. The surplus however was not greeted by the board of education with open arms since it arrived about a month after the board made $2.5 million in budget cuts.

After being questioned by the board about the surplus at the June meeting, Diaz stormed out of the board room and refused to take questions from a Daily Sound reporter.
Barbara Keyani, a spokeswoman for the districts, said she did not know if Diaz’s departure had anything to do with the district’s budget woes.
“He resigned to pursue some personal opportunities,” Keyani said. “I know he was looking for some other things out there.”
Diaz, who lives in Ventura, took his post just under one year ago. He replaced Mary Stark, who was with the district for two years before taking a position in another district.
Keyani said a flier posted at the district offices says the deadline for applications for Diaz’s job is Friday, Jan. 18 of next year.
Keyani said the pay for the post begins at $124,348 and tops out at $136,750.
The only other public resignation since the budget surplus was revealed was from Robert Wolf, who was the district’s Director of Fiscal Services.