A Quiet Hero’s Legacy

The Los Alamitos Unified School District owes much of its success to business manager Ron Murrey, who recently stepped down to take a position in Covina Valley.

Murrey is credited with a legacy of fighting for millions of dollars in federal funding, money that was used to improve school services, officials said.

In the 1980s, when schools suffered financial setbacks blamed on Proposition 13, Murrey successfully argued that the district was entitled to additional federal funding because of its two nontaxable federal properties: the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Los Alamitos and the Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach.

Murrey waged a five-year battle for the district to qualify for the funding from the Department of Education, which finally conceded.

School board President Virginia Wilson joined him in his lobbying efforts, and they later became a part of a coalition called the National Assn. of Federally Impacted Schools. The two shared duties representing the district in Washington.

Wilson described Murrey as a “quiet hero.”

“The reason we’ve been able to maintain quality is because he keeps a tight fiscal ship,” Wilson said of her colleague.

Murrey is more modest about his work with the district, saying only that, “I feel good about what I was able to accomplish there.”

Hired as a purchasing analyst in 1974, Murrey became director of business services six months later, eventually becoming business manager.

During his reign over finances, the district grew and expanded from an elementary to a unified school district.

In 1982, the Seal Beach Elementary School District was annexed by Los Alamitos Unified, which reopened several Seal Beach schools to accommodate new students.

“That was a lot of fun seeing that change occur,” Murrey said. “We were able to get through the pains of declining and also growing.”

After 25 years working for Los Alamitos schools, the Long Beach resident moved to the Covina Valley Unified School District, where he will be working with his old boss, former superintendent Michael Miller.

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Ana Cholo-Tipton can be reached at (714) 966-5890.