Education Service Center Region 13

Legal name: Education Service Center Region Xiii

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
741590220
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Austin, TX, US
Phone
512-919-5313
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$90,492,548
Expenses
$88,904,327
Assets
$59,633,123
Liabilities
$21,931,747

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Rich Elsasser (Executive Director)
  • Millie Klein (Deputy Executive Director)
  • Kerry Gain (Deputy Executive Director)
  • Roger Dees (Deputy Executive Director)
  • Jennifer Chidsey (Deputy Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Rich Elsasser (Executive Director): $279,114 total reported compensation
  • Millie Klein (Deputy Executive Director): $185,308 total reported compensation
  • Kerry Gain (Deputy Executive Director): $160,698 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Our purpose is to assist teachers, educators and administrators in their roles as educators.

What it reported doing in 2024

Academic Services is integral to the educational mission of the service center. This division is responsible for developing, evaluating and continuously improving our aid to teachers and administrators in their role as educators. This division works provides critical training and resources to school districts that promotes critical thinking, creativity, and lifelong learning. By staying current with educational trends and incorporating innovative teaching methodologies, this division strives to enhance the learning experience and academic outcomes for all students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 92% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 60
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96.9%; rating input score 97
  • Program expense ratio: 98.6%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 1.8%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.67; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.37; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.2%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 96.9% of revenue deployed · 98.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $87.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $279K · 22 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $10.1M reported
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 15 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 51/100.