Desert Dragon School Dba Desert Dragon Learning Community

What it reported doing in 2025

Desert Dragon Learning Community is a small, personalized learning space in Tucson, AZ where students ages 10-14 with learning differences can thrive. Through autonomy, project-based learning, and personalization in a comfortable, flexible space, Desert Dragon students will be able to access their present and future goals.MISSION STATEMENT Desert Dragon Learning Community is a small, personalized learning space in Tucson, AZ where adolescents with learning differences can thrive. Through autonomy, project-based learning, and personalization in a comfortable, flexible space, Desert Dragon students will be able to access their present and future goals. FINANCIAL INFORMATION We started 2025 with a $10,000 grant from VELA and $857.44 in the bank account. We had 3 students enrolled at the full-time level, and 2 at part-time. By the end of the 2024-2025 school year, our enrollment grew to 7, with 2 additional full-time students who did not yet have their ESA funding but who attended when they could. In March of 2025 we moved from suite #6 into suite #1 in the Many Hands Courtyard. The $10,000 grant was used to pay the increase in rent for the larger space, and materials for the space. We also paid 2 interns $20/hour for 6 hours a week during the Spring semester. We ran a summer program to generate more revenue and pay our staff. The program was well-attended, with 3 students who attended over summer enrolling with us for the school year. We started the 2025-2026 school year with 7 students: 3 part time and 4 full-time. By the end of December, we were up to 11 students; at one point we had 12! We started January 2026 with 10 students. We had 2 interns we paid $15/hour, and hired a part-time learning coach who we pay $20/hour for 20 hours a week. Despite this growth, we still struggle to keep up with costs. We added 3 students in Quarter 2 who had not yet received their ESA funding, and only 1 of them has been able to pay for Quarter 2. Future Funding: We are in need of a tuition increase to cover costs and pay Annie a salary, as well as additional philanthropic support and fundraising. PROJECTS Year two and more students have really helped us see what works and what needs adjusting! Successes: Field trips continue to be a success: in 2025, we visited Mission Garden twice, Mt Lemmon, El Jefe Cat Cafe, Hunter's Kitten Lounge, The Fox Theatre, Scoundrel and Scamp Theater, Arizona Theater Company, Tucson Village Farm, Cooper Center for Environmental Education, the Creative Arts Teen Summit at the Tucson Festival of Books, and Ben's Bells. The Cooper Center field trip was developed in coordination with the Southern Arizona Microschool Collective, and students have made friends with students from other microschools. Those students have formed an Odyssey of the Mind Team for 2026. The space is being used by Eichling Enrichment for afterschool D&D programming, which has helped us find more connections within the local autistic community. Partnerships have increased: In addition to our monthly AdventureArt visit, we added visiting Groundworks once a month. The addition of Lab Classes for the 2025-2026 school year has mostly been a success: We had Music, Art, Psychology, ELA, Math/Science, Social Sciences, and Enrichment Labs every week. Going in 2026, we are making some adjustments to the Lab schedule, including AdventureArt every week. Challenges: Online curriculums are a struggle to get students to complete on a regular basis. We have MindPlay, which has an Orton-Gillingham based reading program and a math program; LifeHub; and ST Math. The students consistently do work on LifeHub; getting them to do the other two is often met with refusal. More students has also meant more conflict. To address this, all staff are working on outside trainings from Learn Play Thrive, and the Autism Masterclass. Going into 2026, we are hoping to have training from Lives in Balance, and we are working on developing a training unique to microschools with the PD

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
• Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 48.3%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.02; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: -200% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 139.1% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: -34.2% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings