Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Jun 2000.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
93 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
38 people listed on the 990; $5.8M paid to officers and key staff.
Jeffrey Cottrill’s $399K as Superintendent & CEO is at the 26th percentile of top reported officer pay among 674 $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 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas E Torkelson | — | — | — | — | $489,748 | $941,143 |
| Joann Gama | — | — | — | $163,283 | $462,077 | $426,914 |
| Wyatt J Truscheit | — | — | — | — | $181,293 | $440,023 |
| Irma Munoz | — | — | — | $124,344 | $421,178 | $324,478 |
| Jeffrey Cottrill | $398,926 | $344,586 | $201,170 | — | — | — |
| Dolores Gonzalez | $387,518 | $324,579 | $273,960 | $292,483 | $378,555 | — |
| Cody Grindle | $350,141 | $285,823 | $257,936 | $247,202 | $220,104 | — |
| Samuel J Goessling | — | — | — | — | $346,758 | — |
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
Operates tuition-free, open-enrollment public charter schools from Pre-K through 12th grade to prepare students for success in college and life.
Questions for Idea Public Schools
Your first name shows with your question. Idea Public Schools answers here, for everyone.
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See Schedule OIDEA Public Schools believes each and every child can go to college. Since 2000, IDEA Public Schools has grown from a small school with 150 students to a national network of tuition-free K-12 public charter schools in the United States. The network currently serves over 80,000 college-bound students in 143 schools.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2023 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY23 | End FY23 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $354.7M | $305.4M |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $39.3M | $41.4M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $1.23B | $1.26B |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $1.87B | $1.89B |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $1.51B | $1.52B |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $360.1M | $368.6M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic individualsLn 2 | $840K | $840K | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $5.1M | $4.8M | $292K | $15K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $543.4M | $510.3M | $31.5M | $1.6M |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $29.4M | $27.9M | $1.5M | $101K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $56.5M | $53.4M | $3.0M | $129K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $8.4M | $7.8M | $524K | $28K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $1.6M | $1.6M | $24K | |
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $179K | $179K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $14.3M | $13.6M | $635K | |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $10.0M | $1.5M | $8.4M | |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $73.7M | $66.4M | $7.0M | $291K |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $676K | $676K | ||
| OccupancyLn 16 | $47.1M | $43.5M | $3.6M | $6K |
| TravelLn 17 | $11.1M | $9.9M | $1.1M | $76K |
| InterestLn 20 | $53.6M | $51.3M | $2.4M | |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $42.5M | $40.2M | $2.2M | |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $6.9M | $6.4M | $453K | |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $54.8M | $53.8M | $963K | |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $5.8M | $4.8M | $973K | |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $965.9M | $896.6M | $67.0M | $2.3M |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest | $1.2B | $1.1B | $46.7M | $532.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $1.2B | $1.0B | $139.2M | $469.8M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 Viewing | $1.0B | $965.9M | $36.0M | $368.6M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $951.1M | $915.6M | $35.5M | $360.1M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 | $822.0M | $742.5M | $79.6M | $325.1M | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $665.3M | $607.9M | $57.4M | $244.7M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2023 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $1,001,943,024 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 10 of 10 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $1,001,943,024 across 11 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $965,895,627 across 19 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $1,885,164,463 assets, 20 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $368,635,762 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2023 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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