The Primary School - East Palo Alto
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 473334579
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2014
- Location
- East Palo Alto, CA, USA
- Phone
- 6503962779
- Rating
- 68
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Primary, Elementary Schools
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $13,772,053
- Expenses
- $14,423,184
- Assets
- $22,164,785
- Liabilities
- $8,448,537
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JAIME KIDD (CEO & PRESIDENT)
- COURTNEY GARCIA (FORMER CEO & PRESIDENT)
- KIRA LEWIS CLARK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- COURTNEY GARCIA (FORMER CEO & PRESIDENT): $230,833 total reported compensation
- JAIME KIDD (CEO & PRESIDENT): $223,964 total reported compensation
- KIRA LEWIS CLARK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $196,651 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 foster each child's well-being as a foundation for academic and life success by drawing on the strengths of the child's entire community including family, educators, and medical and mental health providers.
What it reported doing in 2024
See schedule othe primary school - east palo alto is expanding the boundaries of traditional education. Our comprehensive school model weaves together education, health, and family support services to ensure underserved children have the system of care they need to lead meaningful and emotionally, mentally, and physically healthy lives. Our approach has three defining characteristics: 1) start early. We start early. We start working with parents and enroll children into our program as early as birth to reach them at their most critical stage in development. 2) partner with parents.we partner with parents. We believe that when parents thrive, children thrive, so we support the wellness and growth of parents alongside the growth of their children. 3) integrate services.our unique model unites health care and education, building a multi-disciplinary team and holistic system of care around a child's full needs.in april 2025, the organization announced that the east palo alto campus will be closing at the end of the 2025-2026 school year (june 2026). The organization will continue to operate in a reduced capacity as remaining funds and assets are dispersed in accordance with the organization's asset distribution plan.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 42
- Sustainability: 34
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82.1%; rating input score 82
- Program expense ratio: 78.3%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -4.7%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.54; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.38; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.1%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 15.9% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 82.1% of revenue deployed · 78.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 1 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $11.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $231K · 9 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $594K reported
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 10 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 52/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.