Westchester School for Special Children

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
133176016
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2013
Location
Yonkers, NY, USA
Phone
9143764300
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$22,338,707
Expenses
$22,359,372
Assets
$10,305,022
Liabilities
$11,350,062

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • LEONARD SPANO (EXECUTIVE DI): $370,761 total reported compensation
  • JAY TABASCO (ASST. EXEC D): $305,082 total reported compensation
  • RICHARD DEVLIN (DIRECTOR OF): $239,617 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 provide services to children and adolescents with developmental disabilities. The school runs preschool and school age programs.

What it reported doing in 2024

The school services children and adolescents with developmental disabilities. Pre-school: from ages 3 through 5, children who are identified with a variety of developmental delays that requires intervention. Integrates job related academics, interpersonal, pre-vocational, and vocational skills. The goal of the program is the adquisition of basic job attitudes and employability skills necessary for successful assimilation into the adult world of employment and community living. Educational and vocational program: highly individualized methods employed to achieve the unique set of strengths and weaknesses of each student. Provided comprehensive diagnostics and intervention services in areas of speech and language development, auditory processing, oral motor functions related to speech, feeding skills, swallowing and voice. Physical therapy: provides each physically challenged child with the best opportunities to maximize their physical capabilities. Occupational therapy: provides therapy to assist the children in attaining their highest level of functioning within their environment. Psychological services: provides individuals, group, and family counseling as prescribed by the student's individual education plan. Promotes home school relationships by direct contact with parents and other family members through onsite consultations and telephone contacts. Behavioral therapy services: help students adapt to their new environment; assists students in the transitional and emotional issues; aims to develop strategies in conjunction with the student and classroom staff that enable the student to achieve his potential. Home behavior therapy: available to all developmentally disabled individuals living with their families in westchester county who are experiencing difficulties functioning in the community. Aims to enable developmentally disabled individuals to increase their potions for living, working and playing in their community by maximizing each person's independence.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.4%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 89.4%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.32 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • 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: Limited
  • 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: -0.1%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.46; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.1; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.1%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.4% of revenue deployed · 89.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $20M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $371K · 18 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 1/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.