Billings School District 2

Billings School District 2, doing business as Billings Public Schools, is a public school district and U.S. government entity receiving direct federal grants as a prime recipient to support K–12 education and school safety initiatives in Billings, Montana. The district operates exclusively in the grant-recipient mode; it holds no federal contracts as a prime and does not compete under set-aside categories.

Billings Public Schools serves as Montana's largest school district, educating over 16,700 students with nearly 2,100 employees across elementary, middle, and high schools. The district's federal grant footprint is concentrated in two program families: Indian Education and school safety. On the Indian Education side, the district has received consecutive annual formula grants under CFDA 84.060 (Indian Education Grants to Local Educational Agencies) from the Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, with awards of $404,684 (July 2023–June 2024), $380,624 (July 2024–June 2025), $353,415 (July 2025–June 2026), and $338,418 (July 2026–June 2027). These grants fund academic instruction, cultural programming, teacher professional development, and targeted support services designed to help American Indian and Alaska Native students meet state academic standards while preserving cultural heritage. On the school safety side, the district holds two significant project grants: a $487,905 grant from the Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Program under the School Violence Prevention Program (CFDA 16.071), running from October 2025 through September 2028 with possible extensions up to twelve months, for evidence-based security improvements including metal detectors, emergency notification technology, and coordination with local law enforcement; and a $329,000 grant from the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance under the STOP School Violence Program (awarded October 2024, completion September 2027) for a Coordinated Violence Prevention and Threat Assessment Initiative that includes behavioral threat assessment training, anonymous reporting systems, and multidisciplinary threat assessment teams across the district's middle and high schools.

The district receives the majority of its federal dollars and awards as a sub-recipient (37 of 65 total awards, 57%) flowing through the Montana Office of Public Instruction, the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, the Montana Board of Crime Control, and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Sub-recipient grant work includes Title I Part A (educational support for disadvantaged students), IDEA Part B (special education), McKinney-Vento homeless education support, Title II (teacher professional development), Title IV (student support and enrichment), Adult Education (CFDA 84.002 and AEFLA), School Nutrition (CFDA 10.555), American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER), and the Homeland Security Grant Program for physical security hardening on school campuses. A 2023 security audit by Secure Environment Consultants identified vulnerabilities that the district is addressing through bollards, fencing, lighting improvements, window film, and secondary lock systems across multiple school buildings. The district also received sub-recipient funding under the Gun Violence Reduction program (Montana Board of Crime Control) to support the Connect Mentoring program and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted toward the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (37 awards), which anchors the Indian Education formula-grant stream, followed by the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (8 awards, school nutrition programs), the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance and Community Oriented Policing Program (6 combined awards, school safety initiatives), and the Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (3 awards, special education support). Total obligated funds across all awards reached $130.9 million. Recent activity has grown—5 awards in 2022, 13 in 2025—with 3 awards reaching completion within the next twenty-four months.