Choice Charter School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
873300320
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Union, IA, USA
Phone
5158502545
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Charter Schools

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,314,678
Expenses
$3,093,603
Assets
$284,451
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PAUL CARROLL (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • CYNTHIA KNIGHT (SECRETARY): $115,040 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Provide educational opportunities for 7th-12th grade high school students via an online public charter school authorized by the Iowa department of education.

What it reported doing in 2025

Choice Charter School is a 7-12 public school that works with students who have a hard time with traditional school. This is our fourth year of operations and we have graduated 215 students to date. We currently serve 305 students and grow by 5 to 7 students weekly. Every student has a mentor that supports them in their school work. We have both live and time choice classes to meet the unique life circumstances of the students we serve.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 100% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 72%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 77.2%; rating input score 77
  • 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.7%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.09; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.7%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 24.2% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 28.1% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 72% of revenue deployed · 77.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $115K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 47/100.