Santa Cruz Elementary School District 28

Santa Cruz Elementary School District 28, doing business as Little Red Schoolhouse, is a public school district in Nogales, Arizona, that receives federal grant funding as a prime recipient under the Small, Rural School Achievement Program and operates as a sub-recipient of formula grants flowing through the Arizona Department of Education. The district is a U.S. local government entity and a Hispanic Servicing Institution classified as an educational institution; it does not hold federal contracts or contract vehicles.

Little Red Schoolhouse operates exclusively in the K–12 education grant space, with all federal activity flowing through the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (part of the U.S. Department of Education) as the grantor agency. The district holds five consecutive prime Small, Rural School Achievement Program formula grants (July 2022 through September 2027), each running for roughly fifteen months. As a sub-recipient, the district receives pass-through funding from the Arizona Department of Education under multiple federal grant programs, including Title I (general elementary and secondary education support), IDEA Basic Section 611 (special education services for students with disabilities), Title II (improving teacher quality), ESSER III (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief), and Early Intervention Services funding. Work performed under sub-awards includes offering physical education and daily physical movement programs to students in grades 2–8 (with each student receiving at least thirty minutes of daily movement per day), providing speech therapy services to students age three to five with disabilities, and running Title I and other formula-grant-driven programs per state guidelines.

The district's funding concentration is entirely within the Department of Education — 25 of 30 total awards come from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, with 3 additional awards from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service accounts for 2 awards. Combined obligated dollars across all awards total $1.7 million. Activity has been episodic rather than growth-oriented — one award in 2022, a spike to six awards in 2023, then three awards each in 2024 and 2025, and two in 2026. One award reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. As a public school district, Little Red Schoolhouse does not compete under SBA set-asides and does not serve as a subcontractor to federal prime contractors; its federal footprint is limited to direct receipt of and pass-through administration of K–12 education formula grants.