Another top-ranking school official has unexpectedly resigned from the San Diego Unified School District. James Masias was the district's chief financial officer.
The school board accepted Masias' resignation letter behind closed doors Tuesday. He was the district's top financial officer for a little more than a year. During that time he's been under intense pressure to balance the district's budget in the face of massive cuts to state education funding.
School board president Richard Barrera says demands on Masias to overhaul the district's budgeting process translated into long workdays and weekends.
He says Masias' unexpected resignation is not linked to his financial analysis.
“The financial staff has been under tremendous pressure for not just the last few months, but the last few years,” Barrera said. “Its one of the less apparent consequences of the budget crisis created by state cutbacks to education.”
But Barrera says he would rather the stress be felt in the central office than in the classroom. Masias will officially leave the district at the end of June.
