School District’s Chief Finance Officer to Quit Administration: After 37 years, he will leave Dec. 31 to take a post with San Diego County.

After 37 years with the Los Angeles Unified School District, finance chief Robert Booker announced Wednesday that he is resigning Dec. 31 to become the chief financial officer for San Diego County.

During a morning news conference crowded with district employees, Booker said he is leaving because of his “own personal plan” to slow down and avoid the long hours and stress involved in managing the finances of the nation’s second-largest school district.

The San Diego post will provide a “golden opportunity” to continue to pursue a career he loves, said Booker, who at 62 is eligible to retire from the district and collect a pension from the state estimated at more than $125,000 a year.

His departure comes after three years of wrenching budget cuts that have reduced the district’s nearly $3.9-billion budget by almost one-third and led to employee layoffs, pay cuts and massive campus service cutbacks.

As chief architect of the district’s spending plan, Booker has been at the eye of the storm during rancorous budget sessions recently, as he advocated spending cuts that were unpopular with both union leaders and board members.

He incurred the wrath of the teachers union when he advised against the 8% annual raises over three years that the board granted teachers and all other employees in 1989, arguing that the district could not afford to absorb those costs--a prediction that proved accurate.

He was held responsible by some board members for an embarrassing series of midyear budget deficits that forced the district to dig deeply into its reserve funds and borrow against future revenues.

Still, he was well-respected in financial circles around the country, and district officials said Wednesday that his retirement is another blow to a school system that in the last few months has faced the abrupt departure of its superintendent, been pushed to the brink of insolvency and still faces the prospect of a crippling teachers strike early next year.

“Him leaving is a tremendous loss to the district, plain and simple,” said school board President Leticia Quezada. “He has been a steady hand and provided a sense of stability that we will miss.

“He had not only a personal but a professional integrity that would be valued in any system, public or private, and it’s our loss that he’s moving on.”

Board members expressed confidence in the ability of Booker’s three top deputies to hold the budget process on course, but Quezada said there is concern that his departure will feed the perception that the district is foundering financially and may frighten investors away.

She added that Booker had a good relationship with Sacramento power brokers, particularly the state board that allocates money for school building projects. “This is going to set us back some in their eyes,” Quezada said. “We’re going to have a lot to prove.”

But teachers union President Helen Bernstein said Booker’s departure could provide the district with an opportunity to change the budgeting process and reorganize funding to give the classroom top priority.

“As a symbol, he came to represent everything that was wrong with the district,” said Bernstein. “It’s the seven board members who ultimately make the decisions, but it’s Bob Booker who sets the tone, and nobody saw him as a person who was receptive to change.”

Booker began working for the district as an accountant just after his graduation from Cal State Los Angeles and rose through the ranks to his current position supervising the district’s budgeting and business services divisions.

A year ago--after the district discovered an unexpected $130-million midyear budget shortfall--Booker and several members of his staff were reprimanded by then-Supt. Bill Anton and suspended for several days for miscalculating district revenue and expenses.

But the punishment was later withdrawn--with Anton’s apologies--after Booker asked for a hearing on the matter before the personnel commission.

In an interview in his office Wednesday after his surprise announcement, Booker said the reprimands upset him “because neither me nor my staff deserved that.” He said the incident had nothing to do with his departure.

“I’m not leaving because of any problem I have with the district, or any problem the district has with me,” Booker said. “This is just an opportunity I cannot pass up.”

In San Diego County, he will manage a $2-billion annual budget, with a staff of 200, when he assumes the post Jan. 4.

David Janssen, the county’s chief administrative officer, said Booker was a clear choice for the position of auditor-controller, which pays $106,000 a year.

“I only met him once, but it was easy to see that he was our man,” Janssen said. The auditor-controller has responsibility for functions such as payroll, accounts payable, internal audits and accounting. But the position will be upgraded to take advantage of Booker’s experience in budget preparation, Janssen said. “One of the real advantages of hiring Bob is he would be able to . . . help with policy development in the budgeting process,” said Janssen. “We’re involved here in some severe reductions . . . and he’s got the kind of experience that’ll help us. We consider ourselves lucky to have him.”

In addition to his pension, Booker will leave the district with a lump sum of $157,000, for approximately a year’s worth of unused vacation.

Supt. Sid Thompson said Booker’s job will not be filled immediately, and his responsibilities will be parceled out to his three top aides--Dave Koch, Henry Jones and Olonzo Woodfin. They are considered the front-runners for Booker’s job, which Thompson said will probably be filled from within the district.

But the district is about to launch a management audit of the finance department, which may be restructured to eliminate Booker’s position, Thompson said.

Times staff writers Charisse Jones and Stephanie Chavez contributed to this story.