Vista College Preparatory Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 454825961
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2012, Form 990-N 2011
- Location
- Phoenix, AZ, USA
- Phone
- 6026123327
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $21,703,724
- Expenses
- $22,641,997
- Assets
- $37,861,772
- Liabilities
- $33,479,549
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JESSE BALIS-HARRIS (CEO)
- JULIA MEYERSON (PRIOR CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- JULIA MEYERSON (PRIOR CEO): $175,000 total reported compensation
- JESSE BALIS-HARRIS (CEO): $163,291 total reported compensation
- MEGAN FRANKIEWICZ (CHIEF ACADEM): $149,542 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Through academic rigor and leadership development, vcp educates all k-8 students for achievement in high school and graduation from college.
What it reported doing in 2024
Vista college preparatory is a free charter school with a longer day, small class sizes, and teachers who firmly believe that all students can achieve academic success if they have access to a high quality education. The vista college prep - hadley campus was recognized by the us department of education as a 2018 national blue ribbon school. Vista college prep is just one of four Arizona charter schools to win the award. There have been 131 charters nationwide that have won the award over the same time period.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 74% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 33
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.8%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 80.2%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $67.69 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
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: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: -4.3%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.67; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.88; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.9%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 21.5% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 20.9% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 21.3% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 83.8% of revenue deployed · 80.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $18.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $175K · 12 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.6M reported
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 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.
- 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.