Appletree Early Learning Public Charter School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 201302458
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2025261503
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Charter Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $23,399,962
- Expenses
- $22,954,135
- Assets
- $32,774,026
- Liabilities
- $19,778,705
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- WILLIAM J MCCARTHY (BOARD CHAIR): $334,085 total reported compensation
- THOMAS KEANE JR - SECRETARY AND (GENERAL COUN): $248,869 total reported compensation
- JAMIE MILES (CHIEF OF SCH): $218,768 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of the charter school is to close the achievement gap before children get to kindergarten by providing three and four-year-old children with the social, emotional, and cognitive foundations that will enable them to succeed in school.
What it reported doing in 2024
The charter school is open to any Washington, dc, child in pre-school and pre-kindergarten and admission is free. The charter school currently serves 658 children at eight public charter preschool campuses across the district. In 2020, the charter school successfully concluded its fifteen- year charter review with its authorizer, the dc public charter school board, and received a charter renewal for an additional fifteen years. In 2025, the charter school successfully completed its twenty-year charter review with its authorizer. The charter school utilizes the comprehensive and evidence-based every child ready instructional model that was developed by appletree institute for education innovation with the assistance of an investing in innovation (i3) grant from the us department of education. The model builds language, literacy, and memory skills using regular assessments and data outcomes throughout the school year. Emphasis is placed on student growth, differentiated by an individual students baseline knowledge. The charter schools primary sources of support are local appropriations for charter schools from the district of columbia. The charter school also receives federal funding through the office of the state superintendent of education.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 87% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 88.5%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 90%; rating input score 90
- Fundraising efficiency: $156.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1.9%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.43; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.6; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.7%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 88.5% of revenue deployed · 90% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $20.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $334K · 21 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.4M reported
- Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 42/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 53/100.