Dixon School District 9

Dixon School District 9 (Sanders County, Montana) is a U.S. local government school district that serves as a federal grant recipient in K–12 education, competing for and receiving formula and project grants from the Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education as a prime recipient (83% of recent awards) and as a sub-recipient from the Montana Office of Public Instruction on federal education and nutrition programs.

The district's customer concentration is singular and deep. All 72 recent awards over the past two decades flow from four federal agencies, with the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education accounting for 65 awards (90% of the portfolio). The remaining seven awards split between the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (5 awards) and the Department of Agriculture Rural Housing Service and the Department of Education (1 award each). The district competes exclusively through federal grant programs, not procurement vehicles; it does not hold seats on GWACs, IDIQs, or BPAs and does not perform contract work.

Dixon School District 9's prime grant portfolio centers on three recurring programs. As a prime recipient, the district receives annual formula grants under the Small, Rural School Achievement Program (education.gov CFDA 84.358) and the Indian Education Formula Grants to LEAs program (CFDA 84.060), both awarded each July 1 with performance periods running through September 30 or June 30 of the following fiscal year. The district also holds multi-year project grants under the Impact Aid Program, Title VII, Section 7003 (CFDA 84.041), which provides financial assistance to school districts where federal property acquisition has reduced the local tax base; the most recent Impact Aid award, dated October 1, 2025, carries a six-year performance period through September 30, 2031, and covers $127,298 for a rural student population in Sanders County where federal land presence limits local property tax revenue. Impact Aid eligibility turns on at least three percent or 400 federally connected children in average daily attendance living on federal property, having a parent working on federal property, or having a parent on active duty in the uniformed services. In its sub-recipient role, Dixon School District 9 receives pass-through awards from the Montana Office of Public Instruction under Title I (CFDA 84.010), ESSER I / II / III pandemic recovery programs (CFDA 84.425 and 84.425U), and the School Nutrition program (CFDA 10.555), with sub-awards dated between October 2021 and September 2025.

Award activity has remained flat at five to six grants per calendar year over the past five years (2022–2026), with only two awards (both smaller impact-aid or formula grants) scheduled for completion within the next twenty-four months, indicating limited near-term recompete pressure. Combined dollars obligated across all seventy-two awards total $6.6 million, reflecting the formula-driven and modest per-award structure of rural K–12 education grants. The district operates as a recipient organization dependent on federal formula allocations and state pass-through mechanisms; it neither maintains contractor teaming relationships nor serves as a vendor to other federal programs.