Lake Agassiz Education Cooperative

Lake Agassiz Education Cooperative, doing business as Lake Agassiz Special Education Cooperative, is a Minnesota school district and local government entity that receives formula grants from the U.S. Department of Education as a prime recipient and acts as a sub-recipient on pass-through awards from the Minnesota Department of Education.

Lake Agassiz is headquartered in Hawley, Minnesota (56549) and operates as a public education cooperative — a structure that places it outside the SBA small-business certification framework and federal contracting vehicles entirely. The organization does not hold prime federal contracts or participate in contract vehicles such as GWACs, IDIQs, or GSA Schedules; it receives federal funding solely through education grant programs. Recent federal grant footprint consists of annual Small, Rural School Achievement Program awards from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (CFDA line not provided in source) under formula-grant assistance. Lake Agassiz received prime formula grants on July 1 each year from 2022 through 2026, with ultimate completion dates running through September 30, 2027. The organization also receives pass-through sub-grants from the Minnesota Department of Education tied to state-level federal awards — seven sub-recipient awards appeared between January 2024 and October 2025, with multiple awards dated October 9, 2025 suggesting a recent distribution cycle.

Customer concentration is narrow and entirely within the Department of Education. Eleven of eighteen total awards (61% of the prime footprint) flow through the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education; the remaining seven awards (39% of all federal activity) are sub-grants passed through the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services via the Minnesota Department of Education. The combined dollars obligated across all eighteen awards totals $2 million, reflecting the modest scale of formula-grant funding to rural education cooperatives. Activity has grown modestly — one award in 2022 to five in 2025 — with only one award (the July 1, 2026 Small, Rural School Achievement Program grant running through September 30, 2027) facing recompete or renewal within the next twenty-four months. As a state and local government entity rather than a commercial vendor or contractor, Lake Agassiz does not compete for federal work outside the education-grant space and does not subcontract to other vendors on federal programs.