Pittsburgh Public Schools Needs a Business Manager

Pittsburgh Public Schools is dedicated to serving its community by offering vocational training, adult education courses, and free lunch programs. In addition, this school district responds quickly and appropriately to local, national, and international events – such as World War II when Civil Defense training was provided in their high schools.

She embodies firm commitments to social justice and compassionate leadership, having held various board memberships in nonprofits and being the Director of WSP’s federal TRIO college access program.

Financial Planning

Financial plans can be invaluable tools for business. A financial plan provides a clear picture of current conditions while helping set long-term goals and confidently make decisions.

Financial planners provide crucial assistance with making wise financial choices. They can assist with setting short and long-term goals, devising an investment strategy to meet them, and setting up savings plans to reach them. Furthermore, financial planners can assist with debt management and retirement preparation and help identify what kinds of investments best suit individual investors.

Pittsburgh public schools impose a residency requirement on non-professional staffers such as paraprofessionals, secretarial employees and custodial workers. According to district policy, this residency requirement aims at helping staff become more integrated into the community and more connected to students – yet many employees find themselves subjected to financial hardship due to it. A union representative indicated no desire on part of school board to remove it altogether.

The Pittsburgh Public Schools Facilities Department is responsible for planning, developing, constructing, and maintaining its buildings. As part of this responsibility, they must manage various daily challenges, such as State and City building requirements; annual changes to building codes; historic review restrictions; weather complications; budget restrictions; school needs/requests, and facility emergencies.

Dr. Allen brings over 25 years of experience to education, leadership, and community development roles as an executive, educator, and nonprofit administrator. She has served on multiple executive level committees and teams advising District-wide decision making regarding student and school support, equity recruitment enrollment and crisis response; civic engagement initiatives she has led include service on the Pittsburgh Public School Board YouthWorks Inc and federal TRIO college access programs. Dr. Allen earned her B.A. in History at Slippery Rock University before receiving her M.Ed from Duquesne University.

Budgeting

School districts operating with limited budgets must carefully set goals that are both realistic and in keeping with their core mission. When setting these goals, external and internal factors that may affect them (for instance, school development aspirations, legal compliance requirements, and economic stability) should also be considered.

Before beginning the budget development process, assessing a district’s spending capacity is essential. To do this, compare actual costs from this year with projected costs from next year and use the cost-of-service model to identify relatively high expenditures on services with lower priorities but could benefit from being reduced.

Step two of budget development requires projecting all revenue sources for the coming year, such as property tax revenue, state and federal education aid funds, facility rental receipts, and facility rental revenues. A school business manager should aim to estimate how much will come from each source so they can assess which expenditures need cutting back or where additional funding could come from.

School business officials should make educated predictions regarding future enrollment trends to determine how these will impact staffing compensation costs, which typically account for 75-80% of school budgets. Contract negotiations present a unique challenge when making these projections; an insurance professional could help provide accurate predictions for healthcare costs, forming the majority of staffing compensation budgets.

Once a district understands its spending capacity and state education aid allocation, it can begin planning its budget. At this stage, school business offices should pressure administrative teams to set priorities and rank them. This will allow expenditure discussions to stay on target with priority lists and avoid unproductive debate over minor purchases. Priorities ranked will also help quickly identify emergent needs and meet them efficiently.

Accounting

Business managers at schools oversee all financial operations at their school, from accounts payable and receivable management, budgeting, and financial reporting, and working closely with finance committees, faculty, administration, and budget committees to oversee its finances. It provides an ideal career path in education.

Successful Pittsburgh Public School Business Managers should possess in-depth knowledge of accounting and school finance, including accounting models, forecasting, budgeting, and communicating complex topics efficiently to their team of people in an easy-to-understand way. Furthermore, they must be capable of making quick decisions in fast-paced environments while working effectively together as part of a group environment.

The Pittsburgh Public Schools business manager will oversee all day-to-day accounting activities of the district, such as accounts payable and receivable, budgeting, financial reporting, and audit management. They also tend implementation of any new policies or procedures related to finances at schools in their care. This full-time, non-exempt position starts August 7, 2023.

As a teacher and administrator, Tiana DeLaRosa has left an impactful mark at City Charter High School. A proud graduate of Leadership Pittsburgh, Tiana serves on multiple community boards, including YouthWorks, Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board, and Partner 4 Work’s College Access Advisory Board – in her current position, she oversees curriculum, special education programs as well as teaching promotion processes for staff.

Pittsburgh Public Schools is taking steps to remain competitive by adopting technology to enhance its operations and efficiency. Tyler’s Munis ERP solution will manage financial, HR, and workflow data across departments while streamlining processes and guaranteeing data integrity. These systems will allow Pittsburgh Public Schools to manage finances better, stay ahead of competitors, align budgets with goals more efficiently, and have sufficient resources for mission accomplishment.

Payroll

Maintaining payroll for thousands of employees can be enormously complex, but with the appropriate software system and expert staff, it can be effectively and efficiently handled. Automating processes with software also increases efficiency while cutting costs; plus, it enhances security by decreasing risks related to data breaches.

Many school districts nationwide are looking to implement better software systems to increase productivity and enhance employee satisfaction, such as human resource software or financial reporting software systems. Such new systems can handle everything from human resources management to financial reporting; security compliance with federal or state regulations; as well as seamlessly integrate into existing systems to streamline data analysis processes more easily; some are even designed so they work alongside them, seamlessly allowing employees to easily track employee time-and-attendance or performance reviews with accurate analysis capabilities.

School District employees have diverse needs and interests, making it essential to have access to flexible benefits packages that are both competitive and tailored specifically to them. An excellent benefits package can help attract and retain employees; whether it is an extensive health and dental plan or generous retirement and savings program, Pittsburgh Public Schools gives employees many choices to ensure a secure future.

The facilities department faces daily challenges from many sources, such as State, County, and City building requirements; annual changes to the Building Code and Historic Review limitations; uncooperative weather conditions; financial constraints; school requests/needs and unexpected emergencies arising in buildings constructed during or before 1800; repairs or renovation of these older structures present a daunting challenge; many require significant overhaul efforts and renovation.

Tiana DeLaRosa began her City High career as a business teacher, inspiring students with classes like Financial Literacy and Small Business. Later she transitioned into leading our STEM program growth while supporting students with developing their robots. Tiana’s educational principle embraces high expectations while giving each child the help necessary to meet them successfully.

Now is an exciting time to be part of the District. As we expand, we will ensure all students can access quality education. We work tirelessly towards making this goal accurate for all our students, regardless of social or economic circumstances.