Salem School District

Salem School District, a public school district located in Salem, Connecticut, receives federal grant funding as a prime recipient from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with equal splits between prime grant awards (50%) and sub-grants passed through the Connecticut Department of Education (50%). The district does not hold federal contracts or seats on federal contract vehicles and does not subcontract to other vendors; its federal footprint is entirely grant-based, routed through education and nutrition assistance programs.

Salem School District's prime grant work centers on the Small, Rural School Achievement Program (SRSA), a formula grant from the Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. The district has received five consecutive annual SRSA awards running from July 2022 through September 2027, with the most recent award dated July 1, 2026 and ultimate completion by September 30, 2027. Combined obligated dollars across the district's entire federal award portfolio total $1.8 million across forty awards (prime and sub combined) spanning from 2007 to the present.

Sub-grant activity flows through the Connecticut Department of Education as the prime grantee. Salem School District has received sub-grants under the Child Nutrition Program Block Consolidated (multiple awards from 2022 through 2026), IDEA Part B special-education programs including IDEA 611, IDEA 619, extended support for para-educators, and transition support activities (multiple awards in 2024 and 2025), the American Rescue Plan (ARP) ESSER Small Town Right to Read program (January 2024), SNAP State and Local PEBT (October 2022), and the Specialty Crop Competitiveness Grants (SCA) Local Food for Schools program (January and July 2022). Sub-grant awards cluster with the Connecticut Department of Education as prime and span child nutrition, special education, pandemic relief, and local food-sourcing initiatives.

Customer concentration is highly concentrated in two federal agencies: the Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education holds 21 awards (all SRSA prime grants and related education sub-grants), and the Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service holds 13 awards combined (child nutrition and specialty crop sub-grants). The Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services accounts for 6 awards (IDEA sub-grants). Award volume has remained modest and episodic — averaging 4.4 awards per year over the past five years, with only one award facing ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months. As a school district and government entity, Salem School District does not compete for or hold federal contracts and operates exclusively in the grant-recipient space, with no teaming, subcontracting, or vendor relationship posture.