Poway Educator to Head Hart District : Santa Clarita: Walter L. Swanson will take $95,000-a-year school superintendent post by Feb. 1.

A 48-year-old school administrator from Poway has been named the new superintendent of the Santa Clarita Valley’s largest school district, officials announced Wednesday.

Walter L. Swanson will replace Hamilton C. Smyth as head of the William S. Hart Union High School District.

The district’s eight junior high and high schools draw about 10,500 students from around the Santa Clarita Valley.

Swanson is an associate superintendent of the Poway Unified School District, which has 26,000 students in 24 schools.

He is former superintendent of the Center School District in Kansas City, Mo.

Swanson, who will earn $95,000 a year in Santa Clarita, is scheduled to begin work Feb. 1, but said he may take vacation time from the Poway district and start earlier.

More than 60 people applied for the position after Smyth, 60, announced this summer that he was retiring after serving as superintendent for 16 years.

School board member Dennis King said Swanson was chosen because “nobody in Poway would say anything bad about him. . . . This guy, he walks on water.”

Smyth said Swanson’s greatest challenge will be dealing with the district’s financial problems.

Enrollment has increased about 75% in the past 16 years, from about 6,000 students in 1975.

At the same time, state funds for education have decreased, leaving the district about $1 million a year in the red, he said.

“No school district is in good financial shape, and we’re no exception,” Smyth said.

“I’ve had a lot of experience in finance, and know what it’s like to go through difficult times,” Swanson said. “Money is important, but it’s not the only way to achieve excellence.”