Rocketship Public Schools
Legal name: Rocketship Education
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 204040597
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- San Jose, CA, US
- Phone
- (408) 441-0740
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Charter Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $178,105,036
- Expenses
- $176,060,565
- Assets
- $255,253,955
- Liabilities
- $169,777,476
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
29 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- PRESTON SMITH (CEO)
- MARICELA GUERRERO (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CALIFO)
- LOUIS JORDAN (BOARD PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- PRESTON SMITH (CEO): $377,475 total reported compensation
- LAMAR WADE (CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER): $344,531 total reported compensation
- MARICELA GUERRERO (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CALIFO): $309,867 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Rocketship Public Schools is a national non-profit network of public elementary charter schools that works to catalyze transformative change in underserved communities by using a scalable and sustainable public school model to propel student achievement, develop exceptional educators, and partner with parents (Vision: equal access to opportunity for all).
What it reported doing in 2024
Rocketship education manages, operates, and promotes a network of public elementary charter schools serving approximately 10,000 students in high need communities. Rocketship education directly operates schools in California and Tennessee with approximately 7,600 students.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 91% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 44
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.9%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 84.7%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $330.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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: 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: 1.1%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.45; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.67; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.2%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 12.6% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 21.2% per year; rating input score 100; 94th 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: 83.9% of revenue deployed · 84.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 22 of 22 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $149.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $377K · 29 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.6M reported
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 3 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 52/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.