Chinle Unified School District #24

Chinle Unified School District #24, a U.S. government entity and educational institution located in Chinle, Arizona, operates as a prime recipient of federal grants serving Native American pre-K through 12th grade students on Navajo Nation lands. The district receives the majority of its federal funding (61% of awards) as a prime grant recipient from the U.S. Department of Education, with secondary funding streams routed through state intermediaries and direct federal agencies.

The district's federal grant portfolio spans education, environmental infrastructure, and mental health programming. Core funding arrives through the Department of Education's Indian Education Formula Grants to Local Educational Agencies (CFDA 84.060), which have supported culturally responsive academic instruction, cultural mentorship, and professional development for teachers across successive annual awards: $740,687 (July 2022–June 2023), $730,150 (July 2023–June 2024), $704,319 (July 2024–June 2025), $704,973 (July 2025–June 2026), and $687,536 (July 2026–June 2027). The district also holds the largest single award on record—$30.6 million in Impact Aid Program funding (CFDA 84.041, Title VII, Section 7003) from the Department of Education, obligated October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2031, which compensates for lost local property-tax revenue on federal and Indian lands and supports operating costs for the predominantly Native American student population. A third wave of Impact Aid project grants totaling multiple awards runs from October 2022 through September 2030 and beyond. In 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $5.925 million project grant (CFDA 66.045, Clean School Bus Program) running April 1, 2024 through September 30, 2026 to replace diesel and gasoline school buses with zero-emission electric buses, including driver and maintenance staff training. Mental health and behavioral support work flows through a $3.5 million-plus grant (CFDA not specified in source) from SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services (awarded September 30, 2023, ultimate completion September 29, 2028) funding Project AWARE, a tiered system of school- and community-based mental health interventions, suicide prevention, cultural mentorship, and trauma-informed counseling for Native American students.

The district receives an additional 39% of awards as a sub-recipient through the Arizona Department of Education, which passes through federal funds under Title I (disadvantaged students), Title II (teacher quality), Title III (English language acquisition), Title IV-A (student support and enrichment), IDEA Basic (special education), RLIS (rural and low-income schools), ESSER III (pandemic recovery), Child Nutrition programs (FFVP), and CTE (career and technical education). These sub-awards, recurring annually from mid-2023 forward, support classroom technology, STEAM programming, preschool assessment, and academic enrichment aligned with Title I eligible initiatives. The source lists 30 sub-awards from Arizona Department of Education alone, with additional sub-awards from the Arizona Executive Office between February 2023 and July 2026.

Customer concentration is heavily tilted toward the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which accounts for 63 of 88 awards (71% of award count), with the Department of Health and Human Services Indian Health Service placing 7 awards valued at $288 thousand, and the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service, Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, and Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service accounting for the remaining awards. The district has obligated $567 million across all awards to date—a figure that reflects multi-year Impact Aid and education formula grants with obligations far exceeding the $390 thousand combined potential value listed, typical of education agency reporting conventions where obligated amounts reflect cumulative payments across multi-year periods. Activity has grown from 2 awards in 2022 to a peak of 14 in 2024, with 6 awards recorded in 2026 year-to-date. Two awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing limited recompete exposure in the immediate term.