Southeast Island School District

Southeast Island School District, a tax-exempt not-for-profit educational organization headquartered in Thorne Bay, Alaska, is a federal grant recipient operating primarily on awards from the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture, with no federal contracts. The district serves the rural Ketchikan area and competes as a direct prime recipient (33% of recent awards) and as a sub-recipient routed through the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (67% of recent awards).

The district's federal footprint centers on K–12 education and rural development funding. As a prime recipient, Southeast Island School District holds project grants for Native American education initiatives and school infrastructure: a $999,851 award from the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education under the Indian Education-Special Programs for Indian Children program (CFDA 84.299) for Project APEX (performance through September 30, 2027); a $993,509 award under the same program for the ARISE (Alaska Rural Innovative Skilled Enterprise) initiative (September 30, 2027); a $500,000 project grant from the Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Program under the Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Grants program (CFDA 16.710) for school violence prevention and security improvements (September 30, 2027); and a $373,500 award from the Department of Agriculture Forest Service under the Community Wood Energy and Wood Innovation Program (CFDA 10.708) for the Thorne Bay Wood Boiler Heating Project replacing fossil fuels with community wood energy systems (September 30, 2027). The district also holds formula grants recurring annually from the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education for Indian Education Formula Grants to LEAs and REAP Rural Low-Income Schools Special Qualified Agencies funding, with most recent awards dated July 1, 2026. A $633,910 project grant from the Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service under the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loans and Grants program (CFDA 10.855) funded remote educational and healthcare delivery in the Ketchikan area through August 2025.

Customer concentration sits heavily with nutrition and education formula funding routed through state intermediaries. The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service accounts for 64 of 142 total awards—National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program sub-awards flowing from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, with numerous tranches visible between 2022 and 2026. The Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education supplies 61 awards, dominated by sub-recipient formula funding for Title I, Special Education Title VIB, migrant education, and literacy development, alongside the five direct prime project grants. Together these two customer sources represent 95% of award volume. Sub-recipients under which the district operates include the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (feeding program and education formula awards), the Alaska Municipal League (energy auditing and efficiency grant sub-awards), and the Klawock City School District (supplies and professional development sub-awards).

Activity has grown sharply: five awards in 2022 to twenty-nine in 2024 and forty-two in 2025, with sixteen awards in 2026. Five awards (representing nutrition and education formula sub-awards) face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and require recompete or renewal. The district's broader twenty-year award history documents sustained federal engagement across multiple agencies and grant programs; the source references over twenty distance-learning and rural education grants received since 2000.