IDEA Public Schools
Legal name: Idea Florida Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 843519271
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Weslaco, TX, US
- Phone
- 1 (956) 377-8000
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Charter Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $77,174,671
- Expenses
- $72,924,387
- Assets
- $119,409,869
- Liabilities
- $105,204,132
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- JAMES HARTMAN (EXECUTIVE DI): $233,088 total reported compensation
- SIMARAN BAKSHI (EXECUTIVE DI): $231,524 total reported compensation
- CURTIS LAWRENCE (PRINCIPAL): $173,246 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
IDEA Public Schools prepares students from underserved communities for success in college and citizenship.
What it reported doing in 2024
Idea public schools believes each and every child can go to college. Since 2000, idea public schools has grown from a small school with 150 students to a national network of tuition-free k-12 public charter schools in the united states. The network currently serves over 80,000 college-bound students in 143 schools. Through small learning groups and daily access to technology, every student learns at the level and speed just right for them. Teachers bring subject matter expertise and an unwavering commitment to set each student on a path to success. Parents, teachers, and administrators work as a team to help each student reach their full potential. For the 2024-2025 academic year, idea Florida served 2,563 students across three campuses in the tampa bay area. Idea Florida also served 1,869 students at two schools in the jacksonville area. The schools opened with grades k-10 and will grow to serve k-12 when fully scaled.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 72% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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 most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 88.5%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 93.6%; rating input score 94
- 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: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
- 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 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.64; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.88; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.1%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 45.7% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 42.5% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 54.4% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 88.5% of revenue deployed · 93.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $68.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $233K · 11 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $5.5M reported
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 14/100.