Superintendent Of Public Instruction

The Superintendent of Public Instruction, doing business as The Department Of Education, is Washington state's primary public education agency operating as a federal grant recipient (99% of its 561 recent awards are prime grants rather than contracts) and administers formula and project grants totaling $21.28 billion in combined obligated dollars across 24 distinct federal agencies. The entity is a state government agency headquartered in Olympia, Washington, and serves as pass-through recipient for federal K-12 education, child nutrition, special education, and related social service funding flowing to Washington's local educational agencies, school districts, educational service districts, and community organizations.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction's federal footprint is dominated by recurring formula grants from the Department of Education and Department of Agriculture. Top customers by award count include the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (249 awards), the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (91 awards), and the Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (54 awards), collectively representing 90% of recent awards. Concrete representative work includes a $1.846 million firm-fixed-price contract through April 2035 to serve as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) State Coordinator for Washington, awarded by the Institute of Education Sciences; a $423.1 million formula grant from the Food and Nutrition Service under the National School Lunch Program (CFDA 10.555) for reimbursement and administrative support distributed to 40+ sub-recipients including school districts, food banks, tribal governments, and community organizations; and a $137.3 million Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies formula award (CFDA 84.010) flowing to 76 local educational agencies across the state for high-poverty school improvement. Additional annual formula grants include $94.1 million under Special Education Grants to States (CFDA 84.027), $35.9 million under Migrant Education (CFDA 84.011), $22.8 million under Student Support and Academic Enrichment (CFDA 84.424), $20.1 million under English Language Acquisition (CFDA 84.365), and $21.3 million under Twenty-First Century Community Learning Centers (CFDA 84.287).

The Superintendent of Public Instruction distributes federal funding as sub-awards to hundreds of local sub-recipients—primarily local school districts and educational service districts but also nonprofit organizations, tribal governments, community action agencies, and food banks. Representative sub-recipients include Seattle Public Schools, Spokane School District 81, Tacoma Public Schools, Yakima Public Schools, and over 80 additional districts statewide. The entity also receives and administers project grants for specialized programs such as Team Nutrition training (CFDA 10.574, $800 thousand to $1 million annually), Child Nutrition-Technology Innovation systems (CFDA 10.541), farm-to-school initiatives (CFDA 10.575 and 10.645), school meals equipment (CFDA 10.579), and the Washington DeafBlind Program (CFDA 84.326, $212 thousand). A Project AWARE mental health initiative awarded by SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services (December 2022 through September 2026) funds school-based behavioral health programming across three regional educational service districts serving nearly 200,000 students. Activity has been relatively flat across the past five years (30 awards in 2022 to 16 through October 2026), with 19 awards reaching ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction appears as a sub-recipient on a small number of awards (six sub-awards or 1% of the total), typically under Educational Service Districts as prime grantees. One notable sub-award from the Health Care Authority (May 2026) supports activity in rural youth support; sub-awards from Educational Service Districts 101 and 105 support Project AWARE implementation and Career Technical Education modernization initiatives. The entity does not appear on federal contract IDVs or hold federal contract vehicles; its federal footprint is entirely grant-based. As Washington's designated state educational agency, the Superintendent of Public Instruction qualifies for formula allocations across education, nutrition, and special education programs by statute under IDEA, ESEA, and related provisions, with funds remaining available for carryover and obligation across multiple-year periods consistent with General Education Provisions Act provisions.