Keppel Union School District

Keppel Union School District, a California-based local government school district, operates exclusively as a federal grant sub-recipient, receiving no federal contracts as a prime and holding no contracting vehicles. The district receives sub-award funding exclusively through the California Department of Education and the California Department of Social Services, which pass through federal grants to support school nutrition, special education, child care assistance, and pandemic response programs.

Keppel Union has received 21 federal grant sub-awards totaling $19 million in combined obligations since early 2022, with all work routed through state intermediaries rather than direct federal award. The district's sub-award footprint centers on four federal funding agencies: the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (10 awards), the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (7 awards), and the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (2 awards each). The nutrition-service concentration is pronounced — the district administers the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program under a cascade of annual sub-awards from the California Department of Education, receiving multiple awards per calendar year for fiscal-year nutrition operations. Child Care and Development Block Grant funding (Department of Education via California) supports child care assistance for low-income families, with sub-awards dated March 2023 and September 2023. Special education funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act flows through the same state intermediary in July 2025. Pandemic-response sub-awards under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief programs ran from January 2022 through April 2025, with the most recent active sub-award dated April 25, 2025.

Activity has been uneven — five sub-awards in 2022, a drop to two in 2023, recovery to six in 2024, five in 2025, and three recorded through April 2026. The district has no federal contract prime or subcontract presence and does not operate under any government-wide acquisition vehicles, IDIQs, BPAs, or GSA schedules. All federal funding flows through the California state education and social services agencies as the direct federal grantee, with Keppel Union as the operational sub-recipient administering school meals, child care support, and special education services at the local school level.