Board Of Education Iosco & Arenac Tawas Area Schools

Board of Education Iosco & Arenac Tawas Area Schools, a Michigan school district headquartered in Tawas City, operates as a federal grant recipient and sub-recipient focused on K-12 education support, nutrition assistance, and community health initiatives in rural northeastern Michigan. The district is a U.S. local government entity with minimal direct federal prime contracting activity (4% of recent awards) but a substantial sub-recipient footprint (96% of awards) routed through the Michigan Department of Education as intermediary grantee, alongside one direct prime grant from the Department of Health and Human Services.

The district's federal grant portfolio centers on three primary program areas. Title I Part A funding from the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education supports disadvantaged students through schoolwide and targeted-assistance programs. USDA Food and Nutrition Service awards underpin child nutrition initiatives—school meal assistance critical to a county where nearly 70% of school-aged children qualify for assistance. Title IV Part A grants fund well-rounded education, school conditions for learning, and technology integration. In parallel, the district received a $125,000 direct prime award from the CDC under the Drug-Free Communities Support Program on July 1, 2026, running through June 30, 2031, to lead the Iosco Substance Free Coalition in preventing youth marijuana and nicotine use across Iosco County. The coalition targets high vaping rates, low perceived risk among youth, and widespread peer and sibling access to nicotine and marijuana, drawing on 2024 Michigan Profile for Healthy Youth survey data and 2025 student focus groups. The award requires the coalition to provide 100–150 percent cash or in-kind match and participate in program evaluation.

Customer concentration is high and agency-specific. The Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education accounts for 29 awards (representing 59% of the 49-award total), and the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service for 18 awards (37%), with both routed as sub-awards through Michigan Department of Education pass-through grants. The Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service and the CDC account for the remaining four awards (8%). Activity has remained steady across 2022–2025 (7–10 awards per year) with a recent decline to six awards in 2026 year-to-date as of July 1. Combined dollars obligated across all awards total $11.6 million, reflecting the sub-recipient structure and per-student or per-meal unit nature of Title I and nutrition awards.

The district does not hold contracts on government-wide acquisition contracts, BPAs, or agency-wide IDIQs. All federal funding flows as education grants and sub-grants passed through the state education agency, positioning the school district as an implementing partner for K-12 federal education and nutrition policy rather than as a federal contractor competing for task orders or delivery orders.