Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in May 1998.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
89 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
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Who runs it and what they're paid
24 people listed on the 990; $1.5M paid to officers and key staff.
Sabrina Pence’s $217K as Chief Executive Officer is at the 43rd percentile of top reported officer pay among 3683 $10–100M education 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 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sabrina Pence | $217,028 | $199,078 | $191,394 | $164,832 | $136,118 |
| Jay Altman | — | — | — | — | $146,257 |
| Claudia Barker | — | $140,458 | $135,088 | $127,081 | $126,366 |
| Tom Shepley | — | $138,595 | — | $128,151 | — |
| Tom V Shepley | — | — | $136,001 | — | — |
| Rebekah Cain | $133,382 | $131,893 | — | — | — |
| Sivi Domango | $133,014 | $129,067 | $126,625 | — | — |
| Ava Lee | $129,077 | $125,557 | — | $112,461 | — |
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
Builds and inspires open-admissions public schools preparing New Orleans students for college and careers.
Questions for Firstline Schools INC
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Know this org? Add your story
Firstline schools, inc. (firstline) is a nonprofit organization formed in 1998 to serve as the chartering group for arthur ashe charter school (ashe) formerly known as new orleans charter middle school (nocms).
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2024 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY24 | End FY24 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $18.4M | $24.2M |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $12.0M | $19.2M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $600K | $1.8M |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $39.2M | $50.2M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $2.0M | $7.0M |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $37.2M | $43.2M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1 | $45K | $45K | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $1.0M | $915K | $88K | $8K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $23.4M | $21.2M | $2.0M | $181K |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $1.1M | $970K | $110K | $11K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $2.3M | $2.1M | $226K | $19K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $1.8M | $1.6M | $180K | $18K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $142K | $104K | $38K | $129 |
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $168K | $123K | $45K | $154 |
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $8.1M | $6.7M | $1.5M | $5K |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $20K | $12K | $7K | $117 |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $2.8M | $2.5M | $296K | $2K |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $850K | $563K | $287K | |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $2.9M | $2.9M | −$2K | $2K |
| TravelLn 17 | $210K | $132K | $77K | $1K |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $72K | $72K | ||
| InsuranceLn 23 | $1.4M | $1.3M | $133K | |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $4.7M | $4.5M | $186K | $0 |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $63K | $40K | $23K | $371 |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $51.2M | $45.7M | $5.3M | $248K |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest | $56.6M | $60.3M | −$3.7M | $39.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 Viewing | $55.9M | $51.2M | $4.7M | $43.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | Not on file | ||||
| FY2022 | $60.4M | $51.2M | $9.3M | $21.3M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 | $47.5M | $42.7M | $4.7M | $12.0M | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $49.5M | $44.4M | $5.1M | $7.3M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2024 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $55,918,621 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 13 of 13 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $55,918,621 across 10 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $51,175,516 across 18 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $50,215,943 assets, 16 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $43,178,889 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2024 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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