Deficit greeted WUSD’s new business manager arrives

Wade Roach came to Windsor with dreams of new buildings, but
woke up with $1.5 million worth of budget cuts in his lap.
The Windsor Unified School District continues to grow, and will
need a new school in the next five years. Roach, the new Director
of Business Services for the Windsor Unified School District, came
to Windsor to be the numbers man who will make projects like a new
school happen. While the projects are still on the horizon, the
state budget crisis has thrust itself to the forefront.
“The whole issue of the current California budget crisis has
really put the facilities issues on the back burner, as Windsor and
the other districts across the state struggle to maintain a
positive operating budget,” said Roach.
With the new facilities on the back burner, Roach has spent his
first few months preparing his new district for the upcoming fiscal
year. Last week, he presented the proposed budget, instructing the
board that changes to the budget must be made to keep the district
in the black.
While he can’t say what those changes will be, he’s ready for
these times of uncertainty, and looks ahead optimistically.
Roach joins the WUSD from the Santa Monica/Malibu School
District, where he served as the Assistant Director of Business and
Fiscal Services. “It’s a nice change coming from a district that
has been around for more than a century,” said Roach, who is
looking forward to working through what he calls “the growing pains
of a new district.”
With the increase in Average Daily Attendance (ADA), the
district will continue to receive more funding as its community
grows. While most districts are losing students, Windsor schools
continue to increase every year. Windsor High School graduated 222
seniors this year, and will have to put in portable classrooms to
handle the incoming freshman class that will number over 400
students.
Given the luxury of a growing ADA, Roach knows that his district
must keep students in Windsor. “We need to give the school sites
the needed resources that will allow them to create an environment
where we reduce, and hopefully eliminate, inter-district transfers
of students,” he said.
Along with keeping Windsor kids in Windsor schools, Roach’s
goals include maintaining current programs at all of his school
sites despite statewide cuts, and building a cooperative
relationship with the town, other school districts and the
community at large.
Roach has thus far been pleased with his new position and the
district. “The district has been very supportive during this
transition, especially the former business manager, Denise
Whitaker,” said Roach, who has been with the WUSD since April
28.