Independent School Dist # 625

Independent School District # 625, doing business as ST Paul Public Schools, is a U.S. local government entity and public school district that receives federal grants as a prime recipient across education, nutrition, safety, and youth development programs, with no federal contracting footprint. The district operates 54 prime federal grants and sits as a sub-recipient on 54 additional federal grants flowing through state intermediaries, predominantly the Minnesota Department of Education.

ST Paul Public Schools serves approximately 33,000 students in PreK-12 grades across Saint Paul, Minnesota. The district's federal funding portfolio is anchored in the Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which accounts for 59 of the district's 108 total awards. The district holds recurring formula grants under the Indian Education Grants to Local Educational Agencies program (CFDA 84.060), with awards in the $174,000 to $253,000 range per fiscal year addressing the unique educational and culturally related academic needs of American Indian and Alaska Native students. Concrete recent examples include a $253,457 formula grant awarded July 1, 2026 (ultimate completion June 30, 2027) supporting culturally responsive instruction, language preservation, and teacher professional development; a $226,503 award (July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026) funding academic programming and culturally relevant curricula; and a $192,493 award (July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024) supporting indigenous language instruction and restorative justice practices. Beyond Indian Education, the district received a $100,000 project grant from the USDA Farm to School Grant Program (CFDA 10.575, July 22, 2024 through June 30, 2026) supporting local food procurement, school gardens, and agricultural education.

The district's safety and youth-development work reflects larger federal priorities in violence prevention and school climate. The district is a cooperative-agreement recipient under the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for a Schoolwide Restorative Practices initiative (October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2026), partnering with the Legal Rights Center and CHANGE, Inc. to implement family group conferencing, student assistance teams, and student leadership programs in target middle and high schools. The district also holds a Bureau of Justice Assistance project grant for Customized School Safety Protocol (October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2027) co-developed with the Violence Project, deploying a multidisciplinary behavioral intervention and threat-assessment protocol across ten secondary schools with online training modules for district-wide adoption.

Sub-recipient activity flows almost entirely through the Minnesota Department of Education, which has issued the district more than 50 sub-awards dating from 2022 to September 2026. These include child nutrition support (Fresh Fruit and Vegetable programs under CFDA 10.582, 21st Century Community Learning Centers cohort funding), education stability programs (McKinney-Vento homeless assistance), literacy development (Comprehensive Literacy State Development Supplemental), and pandemic recovery (American Rescue Plan allocations). A single sub-award through the State of Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (September 10, 2025) funds multi-purpose community facility projects supporting education, work, and health.

Award activity peaked in 2024 with 26 awards and has declined to 9 in 2025 and 3 through September 2026, suggesting a maturation or consolidation of the grant portfolio. Only two awards carry ultimate completion dates within the next twenty-four months, indicating minimal recompete pressure in the near term. The district does not hold seats on federal contract vehicles and maintains no prime contracting footprint — all federal financial engagement flows through grant awards, not procurement contracts.