Communities in Schools of Central Texas

What it reported doing in 2024

In the 2024-2025 school year, cisct provided intensive, ongoing support for 9,367 students, and provided short-term services for an additional 68,087 students. The centerpiece of the cis model is our social service staff who establish one-on-one relationships with individual students, parents, and community members to create a service plan based on each child's needs, and then make that plan happen. With the help of our social service team we are able to provide individual counseling or support groups, basic life skills, tutoring, mentoring, ged classes, family care coordination, parenting classes, or enrichment opportunities to help the child succeed. Additional services include home-based intensive services to children and their families, a leadership development and peer support program for high school-age, at-risk males, literacy services for the entire family, school-based workshops and community education to keep children "safe, strong, and free, and supporting public housing residents in their journey to economic self-sufficiency through school-based and property-based educational, enrichment, and case management services. An independent evaluation of communities in schools showed that the intensive case management approach has produced the strongest reduction in dropout rates of any existing fully-scaled dropout prevention program that has been evaluated, and that the cis model is effective across states, school settings (urban, suburban, rural), grade levels and student ethnicities.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 85.8%; rating input score 86
• Program expense ratio: 80.9%; rating input score 81
• Fundraising efficiency: $13.36 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Pass
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -5.5%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.69; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 4%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 12.1% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings