School official leaving Newport-Mesa

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT-MESA -- The financial guru who navigated the school district

through some of its roughest waters, including an embezzlement and the

county bankruptcy, is leaving in May to become a deputy superintendent

for the Riverside Unified School District.

Mike Fine, 41, who has been with the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District since 1992, earned the unanimous approval of Riverside’s Board

of Trustees on Wednesday.

The district will now embark on a search for his successor, trying to

find someone of the same caliber and character to replace him, said Supt.

Robert Barbot.

Fine’s departure comes as the district is in the midst of a

$173-million school improvement program.

While Fine helped secure passage of a $110-million bond, enabled the

district to be eligible for anticipated state funding of about $63

million and is now overseeing the modernization efforts, he said the

program will run smoothly regardless of who is in charge.

“The ballot required that it be run by outside project managers,” Fine

said. “They are extremely qualified people that know what they’re doing .

. . It doesn’t need Mike Fine.”

But the district certainly needed Fine’s financial acumen in 1992. He

was hired for the newly created position of budget analyst/internal

auditor to help deal with the district’s burgeoning financial problems.

Officials were soon to discover the first of a series of embezzlements

engineered by Stephen Wagner, director of business services.

“I arrived in an environment of utter chaos,” Fine recounted. “I had

to rebuild all the financial systems, had to re-budget the district. It

was a whole different environment than I thought I was walking into but I

never looked back.”

Fine, whose previous business experience included working for defense

contractor General Dynamics, set about righting the battered ship by

reestablishing internal controls.

He soon took over as director of fiscal services, then moved to chief

financial officer and in 1997, became assistant superintendent of

business services.

As he rose through the ranks, Fine earned the kudos of the trustees.

“He has to be the finest finance and business person in the business

and we are going to miss him,” said Trustee Dave Brooks. “He is able to

grasp complex concepts very quickly. When people are explaining things in

parts, he can see the whole.”

Fine said one of his proudest accomplishments was his unrelenting

effort to get the facilities improvement bond measure passed when critics

said it couldn’t be done. The bond passed in June 2000.He is also proud

that teacher salaries have increased to the point where the district

“doesn’t have to apologize for them.” Teachers are currently getting

compensated close to the county average.

One of Fine’s most significant legacies is helping restore credibility

to the district’s once-tarnished financial reputation, Barbot said.

“He’s been a great help in establishing accountability here. One of my

demands is that everything is open and on the table. And he’s been

receptive. It’s a complicated job.” Barbot said.

Fine’s new district -- the 13th largest in the state -- is chock full

of financial challenges, including an anticipated $10-million budget

shortfall with budget cuts looming and an impasse with the teacher’s

union over salary negotiations. But Riverside Supt. Susan Rainey said she

has complete confidence that Fine will achieve a diplomatic resolution of

both issues.

“He has been described to me as one the best chief business officers

in the state and that reputation comes as a result of hard work and

effective leadership,” Rainey said.

For Fine, moving to Riverside is also a homecoming. He grew up there

and did some graduate work at UC Riverside. His wife, Kevin, is a

second-grade teacher in the district and his two children, Amanda and

Brandon, go to school there.

“He brings with him not only his professional expertise, but a

personal commitment to a community he knows very well,” Rainey said.

The move will also dramatically reduce his mind-numbing two-hour

morning commutes, which have stretched to four hours at times, Fine said.

For the next month-and-a-half, Fine will be busy whittling down his

51-item to-do-list and enjoying his final days at the financial helm of a

district that has provided him with a wealth of memories and experience.

“Newport-Mesa has treated me very well and I’m very grateful for that.

They’ve given me the opportunity to grow and learn. I wouldn’t have

changed a thing in my opportunity to come here.”

* Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 deirdre.newman@latimes.comf7 .