Rochester Math & Science Academy

Legal name: Rochester Math and Science Academy

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 870732808
IRS 990 coverage: 2010–2024
Official website data refreshed: Sep 2026
Forms available: Form 990 2024
Location: Rochester, MN, US
Phone: (507) 252-5995
Rating: 66
Verdict: SUPPORTED
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: Primary, Elementary Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $13,706,589
Expenses: $12,132,130
Assets: $6,665,371
Liabilities: $4,810,619

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

Bazi Bin-Sheikh (Vice President/Teacher)
Abdifitah Shekh (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

Abdifitah Shekh (Executive Director): $166,272 total reported compensation
Abdulkadir Abdalla (Board Chair): $136,127 total reported compensation
Sulaf Al-Saify (Secretary/Teacher): $76,542 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To maximize opportunities for children through educational innovations that will ensure their full development as healthy and positive contributors to the greater community.

What it reported doing in 2024

Rochester Math and Science Academy is a results oriented charter school. The school's vision is to meet the distinct needs of our newly arrived student population. The school will create a supportive family teaching community that utilizes shared ideas, goals, and experiences as a major tool for fostering a comprehensive and challenging education. The vision is to meet the distinct needs of Rochester's diverse student population. The school served 554 students during year-end June 30, 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model: Grant-funded. 99% 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 the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 71
Transparency & Controls: 76
Accountability: 37
Sustainability: 47
Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 75.6%; rating input score 76
Program expense ratio: 85.1%; rating input score 85
Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
Foreign activity oversight: Limited
Grant itemization coverage: Limited
Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

Operating margin: 11.5%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.72; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 4.6%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: 10.6% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 61st 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: 75.6% of revenue deployed · 85.1% of spending went to programs
Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $10.3M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $166K · 6 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $361K reported
Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 6 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.
Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 54/100.