Iron County Board Of Education

Iron County Board Of Education, a Utah school district headquartered in Cedar City, operates as a recipient of federal education and nutrition grants, with 17% of its recent federal award footprint as a direct recipient and 83% flowing through as a sub-recipient from Utah state agencies. The district receives formula grants from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and participates in child nutrition, special education, and teacher support programs under passthrough awards from the Utah State Board of Education and the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

Iron County Board Of Education's federal funding is heavily concentrated in two categorical streams. The Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service accounts for 54 awards (spanning school breakfast, national school lunch, after-school meal, and child and adult day care programs), and the Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education accounts for 48 awards. The remaining 20 awards distribute across the Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (13 awards), the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (2 awards), and the Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition (2 awards). Together, these five federal customer sources cover 98% of the district's recent award count.

The district holds five prime federal grants from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, all Indian Education Formula Grants to LEAs (Local Educational Agencies). These grants carry annual award dates of July 1, with one-year performance periods: awards dated July 1, 2022 (completed June 30, 2023), July 1, 2023 (completed June 30, 2024), July 1, 2024 (completed June 30, 2025), July 1, 2025 (completed June 30, 2026), and July 1, 2026 (ultimate completion June 30, 2027). The sub-recipient portfolio reflects the mechanics of state-to-local passthrough funding: the Utah State Board of Education has distributed 101 federal grant sub-awards to Iron County Board Of Education, with the bulk flowing as nutrition programs (National School Lunch free and reduced, school breakfast, after-school meals, child and adult day care meals), special education IDEA flow-through grants, Title I (Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged) and Title II (Preparing and Developing Effective Instruction and Leadership) teacher support funding, English Language Acquisition flow-through awards, McKinney-Vento homeless student services, Neglected and Delinquent student transition support, and preschool special education funding. Two sub-awards come from the Utah Department of Workforce Services for High Quality School Readiness Grant programs (preschool expansion). Recent sub-award dates range from August 2026 (most recent) through October 2021 (oldest recorded).

Award velocity has accelerated sharply. The district received 2 awards in 2022, 9 in 2023, 51 in 2024, 29 in 2025, and 14 through August 2026. Combined dollars obligated across all 122 awards total $22.4 million. Only one award carries an ultimate completion date within the next twenty-four months, indicating minimal recompete exposure in the near term; the majority of sub-awards renew on federal fiscal-year cycles (September 30 or June 30) and carry rolling passthrough authority from the state board of education. The district's federal footprint reflects its role as a Title I school district serving economically disadvantaged student populations and a geographically significant Native American student population qualifying for Indian Education Formula Grant eligibility.