DSST Public Schools

Overview

Mission

DSST Public Schools transforms urban public education by eliminating educational inequity and preparing all students for success in college and the 21st century. At DSST, the steps to fulfill our mission start in 6th grade with a college-ready STEM program that ignites learning for every student, in every classroom, every day. In **2024-25** , we examined if we had the right systems in place to support all our students and underwent an exciting middle school redesign. Slide 1. DSST Public Schools is a network of public, open enrollment, free charter schools in Denver and Aurora. Our eight campuses serve middle and high school students and are widely considered to be among the leading open enrollment STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) schools in the United States, and have become a destination for educators nationwide. DSST schools are home to the highest performing and...

Operating model

Revenue model

Other-operating. 86% of the money available for current operations came from other operating 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

• Financial Efficiency: 93
• Transparency & Controls: 84
• Accountability: 100
• Sustainability: 42
• Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Details

• What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site
• Where the money goes: 94.7% of revenue deployed · 98.1% of spending went to programs
• Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
• Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $130.4M in reported program spending
• Leadership: top reported pay $305K · 29 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
• Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $14.4M reported
• Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
• Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
• Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
• Contacts: How to reach this organization
• Money network: 15 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.

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

• Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
• High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
• Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
• Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.
• Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 57/100.
• High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.