Choice Academies Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
208809933
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Phoenix, AZ, USA
Phone
6029385517
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Charter Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,083,124
Expenses
$6,869,461
Assets
$17,441,670
Liabilities
$13,903,446

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LISA FINK (PRESIDENT)
  • AUDRA WILSON-SMITH (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • AUDRA WILSON-SMITH (CEO): $124,611 total reported compensation
  • ASHLEY SMITH (PRINCIPAL): $111,809 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Choice academies is comitted to providing a traditional back-to-basics education within a framework of high standards and high expectations in a safe environment. Its purpose is to provide students with a strong foundation of knowledge, to teach critical thinking and to develop good citizenship and leadership skills.

What it reported doing in 2024

Choice academies, inc. ("charter school") is an Arizona non-profit corporation established in 2009 to operate a charter school offering a traditional, back-to basics education within a framework of high standards and high expectations in a safe environment. The charter school operates under a 20- year charter contract that has been renewed through june 2043 with the Arizona state board for charter schools, which mandates policy and operational guidelines. The charter school provides educational services to approximately 562 charter school students in kindergarten through twelfth grades in phoenix, Arizona, and is funded primarily through state equalization assistance. (continued on schedule o)our ata boys' volleyball and ata soccer both were state division champions during the 2024 2025 school year. We had an 8th grade student sara suresh who placed 5th place in the Arizona state spelling bee. Ata students taking the aasa, 75% passed math and 80% passed the ela compared to the state average of 33% passing math and 40% passing ela. The purpose of the charter school is to provide students with a strong foundation of knowledge, to teach critical thinking and to develop good citizenship and leadership skills. Choice academies strives to become nationally competitive by achieving its objectives through sequential increase in knowledge and student accountability, highly trained teachers, and strong parental involvement.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 86% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.8%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 82.8%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Limited
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.54; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.8; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.4%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.8% of revenue deployed · 82.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $5.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $125K · 8 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $125K reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.