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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

First Academy Inc

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 061426905
CT · NTEE B21
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 10, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Elith Howard, Executive Director / CEO ($60,000) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 304 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 30th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Elith Howard — reported title “School Director”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

304 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 304 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$573 total compensation of comparable organizations → $237,624 $60,000
$36,59010th
$56,74325th
$76,954Median
$98,71875th
$127,59490th
$60,000This org · 30th
p10$36,590
p25$56,743
p50$76,954
p75$98,718
p90$127,594
$60,000

Comparable organizations

Each figure is Form 990 Part VII columns D + F (reportable pay plus other compensation and benefits; column F may include amounts from related organizations), normalized to CT cost of living (BEA RPP, 2023) and to its filing year (CPI-U); the reported amount is on each linked 990.

OrganizationStateRevenueMatched titleComp
(reported)
Comp
(adjusted)
FY
Childrens All Day Pre-nursery NY$894,456 Director $61,029 $58,817 2024
The Riverdale Nursery School NY$895,386 Trustee/edu. $100,000 $96,375 2024
Bedford Montessori School Inc MA$892,669 Dir/head Of $88,966 $85,266 2024
The Tidewater School Inc MD$891,337 Head Of Scho $72,362 $70,294 2025
Einsteins Playground AL$890,922 President $29,000 $33,414 2024
🔒 299 more comparable organizations — included in the purchased report

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to CT cost of living and 2024 dollars. Click any organization to verify the figure on ProPublica.

Methodology

Comparable organizations were drawn from electronically filed IRS Form 990 returns and matched on sector (NTEE code), budget (a size-adaptive revenue band that tightens as the organization grows), and geography (same-state first, broadening only when too few peers qualify); every organization within the band forms the peer set. To compare fairly across regions and years, peer compensation is normalized to CT cost of living (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2023) and to the subject's filing year (CPI-U). The figure benchmarked is Form 990 Part VII, Section A, columns D + F — reportable pay plus other compensation, benefits, and deferred amounts (column F may include amounts from related organizations) — with the chief executive matched by role. Related-organization amounts (column E) and institutional trustees are excluded. Full methodology: peerbasis.org/methodology.

Sample, role match & sensitivity

Sensitivity — the subject's percentile under alternative compensation definitions:

BasisSubject percentile
Total compensation (D + F), cost-of-living + inflation adjusted — the PeerBasis default30th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)32nd
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted30th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted29th

If the percentile moves materially across these definitions, the result is sensitive to methodology choices, and the board should weigh which basis best fits its facts.

Rebuttable presumption of reasonableness · 26 CFR 53.4958-6

Compensation paid by a tax-exempt organization is presumed reasonable — shifting the burden to the IRS — when three requirements are met. This report supplies the comparability data for the second. The board should record the following in its minutes concurrently with its decision:

Ready-to-adopt board minutes — executive compensation

🔒 The complete minutes language — three numbered resolutions pre-filled with this organization, the 304-organization comparison, the date, and the percentile finding, ready to paste into your minutes — is included in the purchased report.

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Sources: IRS Form 990 e-file data (apps.irs.gov); IRS Business Master File (NTEE classification). Every figure traces to an original public filing — click any organization above to verify it on ProPublica. PeerBasis is a service of Prismind Analytics; its methodology is published, was commissioned for independent adversarial review, and discloses its own limitations. This report is comparability data to support a board's good-faith determination under IRC 4958; it is not legal or tax advice. Generated by PeerBasis on June 10, 2026.