Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Jul 2001.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Who runs it and what they're paid
60 people listed on the 990; $2.2M paid to officers and key staff.
Denise Specht’s $212K as President En is at the 41st percentile of top reported officer pay among 414 $10–100M employment nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 8 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denise Specht | $211,883 | $209,259 | $209,190 | $206,074 | $203,573 | $198,928 |
| Rodney Rowe | $209,114 | $209,883 | $206,757 | $203,775 | $211,616 | $205,335 |
| Bernadette Burnham | — | — | — | $208,867 | $211,431 | $109,130 |
| Carrie Lucking | $202,999 | $198,348 | $196,424 | $172,522 | $164,920 | $152,818 |
| Sara Gjerdrum | — | — | — | $199,733 | $197,201 | $193,490 |
| Michael Roehl | $193,912 | $190,745 | $184,810 | $178,195 | $172,363 | $165,917 |
| Monica Byron | $182,944 | $176,618 | $82,528 | — | — | — |
| Rob Gardner | $180,602 | $173,885 | $167,465 | $161,552 | $144,677 | — |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Advocates for Minnesota public education workers by organizing local unions, negotiating contracts, and providing professional development and mentoring for its 89,000 members.
Questions for Education Minnesota
Your first name shows with your question. Education Minnesota answers here, for everyone.
Know this org? Add your story
Education minnesota organizes members on a local basis. Education minnesota currently has 465 local unions statewide. Our locals help mentor new teachers, provide professional development, negotiate and maintain work contracts, and much more. Our staff members in 16 offices statewide serve as resources to our locals.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2021 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY21 | End FY21 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $44.5M | $45.1M |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $16.8M | $17.6M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $654K | $715K |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $65.8M | $66.3M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $63.3M | $26.8M |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $2.6M | $39.4M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1 | $2.7M | |||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $2.0M | |||
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $14.4M | |||
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $5.4M | |||
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $5.4M | |||
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $1.3M | |||
| Office expensesLn 13 | $1.1M | |||
| OccupancyLn 16 | $962K | |||
| TravelLn 17 | $535K | |||
| Payments to affiliatesLn 21 | $943K | |||
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $253K | |||
| InsuranceLn 23 | $135K | |||
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $3.0M | |||
| All other expensesLn 24e | $253K | |||
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $38.5M | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest | $40.0M | $40.8M | −$887K | $76.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $39.1M | $39.7M | −$525K | $65.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $38.0M | $38.1M | −$25K | $58.8M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $36.6M | $37.1M | −$502K | $45.0M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 Viewing | $38.2M | $38.5M | −$249K | $39.4M | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $37.5M | $41.0M | −$3.6M | $2.6M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2021 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $38,243,817 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 43 of 46 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $38,243,817 across 4 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $38,493,081 across 14 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $66,283,893 assets, 16 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $39,446,004 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2021 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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