Crossroads School Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
760317115
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2018
Forms available
Form 990 2018
Location
Houston, TX, USA
Phone
7139771221
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Specialized Education Institutions

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,003,016
Expenses
$1,042,537
Assets
$3,455,593
Liabilities
$2,352,647

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Ginger Cuellar (Head of Finance): $70,832 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Crossroads School, Inc. prepares students with learning differences (K-12th grades) to integrate into a conventional school or college by facilitating their maximum academic and social potential in an emotionally safe and supportive environment.

What it reported doing in 2018

Crossroads School serves children with special needs. Designed as an alternative to traditional instruction for children (K-12th grade) with a wide range of abilities, including gifted and remedial students. During 2018/2019 the school provided services to 23 students. Crossroads' "Out of the Box" teaching philosophy recognizes that each child is unique and children learn in different ways. Crossroads provides a supportive environment necessary for academic and social issues. Creative and flexible teaching strategies are provided to accommodate diverse learning differences. Classrooms support multi-level and multi-sensory learning. Incremental academic and social goals are set to measure success. Students are active participants in the process of their education and growth and are provided with positive reinforcement and timely feedback to encourage personal responsibility. Crossroads School maintains a low student to teacher ratio (no more than 8 students to one teacher). Our ultimate mission is to help students achieve the necessary academic and social skills in order to transition back into a traditional classroom setting.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 75% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 90% 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.8%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 66.2%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: $90.49 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3.9%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.31; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.68; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.8%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -8.1% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 22.6% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.8% of revenue deployed · 66.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $691K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $71K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2009 to 2018
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 13/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.