Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe School

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe School, a tribally operated K-12 educational institution serving American Indian students from the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, is a federal grant recipient providing culturally appropriate academic programming, Ojibwe language preservation, and career and technical education (CTE) expansion to Native American youth in Hayward, Wisconsin. The school operates as a child entity under the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin tribal government and holds no federal contracts; its federal footprint consists entirely of federal grant awards and sub-awards.

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe School has received direct federal grant awards totaling $9.4 million in combined obligation across 38 awards since 2010, with activity concentrated in the past three years. The Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education accounts for 18 of those awards, anchored by recurring annual formula grants under the Indian Education Grants to Local Educational Agencies program (CFDA 84.060), which provide roughly $102,000 to $107,500 per fiscal year from July 2022 through June 2027. The school also holds two project grants from the same office: a $685,386 CTE Expansion Project award (October 2025 through September 2026) under the Indian Education-Special Programs for Indian Children program (CFDA 84.299), and a $350,207 Ogikendamaawin Anishinaabe Project award (October 2024 through September 2027) focused on Ojibwe language revitalization and tribal educational autonomy. The school additionally receives sub-awards for meal programs through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (16 monthly National School Lunch Program sub-awards from July 2024 through April 2026) and one Perkins Tribal Grant sub-award through the Wisconsin Technical College System Board for career and technical education support (July 2025). The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service accounts for the remaining 16 awards in the portfolio.

Award volume has grown sharply — one award in 2022, one in 2023, five in 2024, thirteen in 2025, and five in 2026 — though only two awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal recompete exposure. Grant-funded work focuses on addressing unique cultural, linguistic, and academic needs of American Indian students, delivering teacher professional development in culturally responsive instruction, maintaining administrative costs at or below the 5% threshold, and tracking student achievement and graduation outcomes tied to state academic performance standards. The school's educational model integrates Native American heritage preservation with academic instruction across K-12 grade levels.