Office of School Controller

The City Controller is an independently elected, citywide office in the City of Pittsburgh. The term of office for the City Controller is four years, and is not term limited. The Board of Directors of Pittsburgh Public Schools appoints, by virtue of PA School Code, the City Controller as SCHOOL Controller. The School Controller designates a Deputy School Controller. The Office of School Controller functions as an independent branch of the School District.

The School Controller is the fiscal watchdog for the Pittsburgh Public School District. It is the job of the School Controller to protect District tax dollars from waste, fraud and abuse. The School Controller does this by either pre-approving or auditing all District expenditures. The School Controller also conducts audits of each school, athletic program expenditures, procurement card issued by the District, certifies each contract, oversees the bid openings and awards for general services and facilities, conducts inventory audits of food service and examines and approves employee severance pays, among other responsibilities.

The School Controller’s Office works closely with schools to address corrective action measures, assisting them reconciling their cash balances to ensure balance accuracies.  Office staff meets with school leaders and department leads to discuss all issues found during the audit, offerings solutions and recommendations.   In addition to its audit process, the School Controller’s Office is available to provide audits at the request of school leaders.