Cherryfield School Department

Cherryfield School Department, a non-profit public school district operating as a sub-recipient on federal education and nutrition grants, receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service through pass-through awards administered by the Maine Department of Education. The district does not hold prime federal contracts or IDVs and operates entirely within the K–12 education funding ecosystem as an end-user recipient rather than a contractor or vendor.

Cherryfield School Department's federal footprint is dominated by child nutrition and special education grants routed through Maine's education agency. The district has received four prime formula grants directly from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education under the Small, Rural School Achievement Program in fiscal years 2022, 2024, 2025, and 2026 (awarded July 1 each year, running through September 30 of the following year). Beyond these prime awards, the district serves as a sub-recipient on fifty-five federal grants awarded by the Maine Department of Education, nearly all allocated within the past three years. The portfolio splits heavily toward nutrition support: forty-six awards fund the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service's National School Lunch Program and Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, distributing cash grants and commodity foods to support free and reduced-price meal programs and targeting local procurement from small businesses and socially disadvantaged farmers. Sixteen awards flow through the Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education for general academic improvement and support to high-poverty schools. Two additional awards come through the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to fund special education services for children ages birth through twenty. One agriculture award supports local food procurement through Maine's agricultural marketing channel.

Activity accelerated sharply in 2023 and 2024 (seventeen and thirty-eight awards respectively), after minimal prior volume. Combined federal dollars obligated across all awards total $609 thousand. The district faces one award completion in the next twenty-four months. The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service accounts for 71% of awards by count across the portfolio; the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education accounts for 25%; the remaining 4% splits between special education and agricultural procurement. All sub-awards derive from Maine Department of Education as the prime grantee, making the state education agency the sole intermediary between federal funding streams and district-level operations.