Independent School District 297

Independent School District 297, doing business as Spring Grove School District #297, is a U.S. government entity (school district) based in Spring Grove, Minnesota, that receives federal grants from the Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education as a prime recipient under the Small, Rural School Achievement Program (CFDA 84.358).

Spring Grove School District #297 operates exclusively as a grant recipient rather than a federal contractor. The district has received five consecutive annual Small, Rural School Achievement Program formula grants from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, with awards on July 1 of each year from 2022 through 2026. The most recent award (July 1, 2026, completion date September 30, 2027) represents the current active grant. The district also receives sub-grants from the Minnesota Department of Education, which acts as the prime grantee on state-pass-through federal awards (two sub-grants documented, awarded May 6, 2024, and February 22, 2024).

Federal activity is heavily concentrated with a single customer agency. The Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education accounts for 100% of the district's 18 documented awards across the source data period. Over the past five years, award frequency has been light but consistent: one award in 2022, one in 2023, three in 2024, one in 2025, and one in 2026. Combined dollars obligated across all awards total $590 thousand, reflecting the scale and formula-driven nature of the Small, Rural School Achievement Program, which targets high-poverty rural school districts. One award (the September 30, 2025 completion date) reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months.

The district's federal footprint is limited to this single grant program. Spring Grove does not hold any federal contracts, IDIQs, GWACs, BPAs, or other contract-based vehicles. The grant awards are formula-based assistance to support educational programming in a small rural Minnesota school district, not procurements of goods or services from outside vendors. As a government entity recipient rather than a private contractor or vendor, Spring Grove School District #297 does not operate under federal small-business set-asides (8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB, or other SBA designations) and is not a competitor for federal contract work.