What does the Pennsylvania auditor general do?
About two dozen local residents know the answer after Pennsylvania Auditor General Tim Defoor brought his “Be Audit $mart” tour to Waynesboro on Aug. 15.
Defoor appeared at the monthly “Hanging with Chad” event hosted by state Rep. Chad Reichard, a Republican whose district includes part of Franklin County.
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Are tax-payer dollars being spent properly?
Pennsylvania Rep. Chad Reichard, left, hosted Pennsylvania Auditor General Tim Defoor and his ‘Be Audit $mart’ program in Waynesboro on Aug. 15, 2025.
The state’s top fiscal watchdog explained ever since he was young, he wanted to investigate how tax dollars are being spent after hearing adults at family reunions joke about what the government does with their money.
He explained his professional journey “to go after people who steal from the government,” culminating when he became auditor general in 2021.
He explained his job is to “make sure your state tax dollars are spent the way they’re supposed to be spent and programs funded with tax dollars are doing what they’re supposed to do.”
The office was created by the Pennsylvania Constitution and its authority is granted by the state’s fiscal code.
While the auditor general’s office analyzes and reports on how money is used, it is not a regulatory or law enforcement agency.
It is up to state lawmakers, policymakers or an agency like the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to act on the information, Defoor said.
Interest high in cyber charter school funding audit
One audit for which Defoor has recommended action is of high interest to representatives of the Waynesboro Area School District who attended the meeting – the long-stand issue of cyber charter school funding.
Dr. Rita Sterner-Hine, Waynesboro superintendent, said millions of dollars are leaving Franklin County in cyber charter school tuition with little accountability.
In February, Defoor released a performance audit of five cyber charter schools which showed “significant and legal revenue increases” because of an “outdated funding formula that does not use actual instruction costs to determine tuition, set guidelines for spending or set limits for cyber charter school reserve funds.”
Pennsylvania Auditor General Tim Defoor presented his ‘Be Audit $mart’ program in Waynesboro on Aug. 15, 2025.
He said he’s the third auditor general to look at the issue and come to the same conclusion – “the cyber charter funding formula needs to change to reflect what is actually being spent to educate students and set reasonable limits to the amount of money these schools can keep in reserve.”
One cyber charter school spent $196 million “to purchase and/or renovate 21 buildings, which to us seems a bit out of the ordinary for a public school that is based in online instruction,” Defoor said in February.
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“That’s not cool, but it’s not illegal. The funding formula has to change … that won’t be easy,” Defoor told the audience in Waynesboro.
His recommendation based on the audit was for the governor to appoint a task force to review the funding formula and present a new formula to Pennsylvania lawmakers.
Sterner-Hine said the report is a “step in the right direction.”
Other topics ranged from seeing someone using a SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits card to purchase a large number of steaks to municipal pension plans.
Defoor encouraged people to “pay attention … there’s a lot of information out there.”
Audit reports appear on the auditor general’s website and people also can sign up for alerts when audits are posted.
This article originally appeared on Waynesboro Record Herald: Pennsylvania Auditor General Tim Defoor brings ‘Be Audit $mart’ tour to Waynesboro
