Unified School District No 327 El

Unified School District No 327 El, a tax-exempt public school district based in Ellsworth, Kansas, receives federal education grants as a prime recipient and sub-recipient under two federal programs. The district operates almost entirely as a sub-recipient (95% of recent awards), receiving block grants and Title I Low Income education funds flowing through the Kansas State Department of Education as the direct federal grantee.

The district holds two direct prime grants from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education under the Small, Rural School Achievement Program, a formula grant: one awarded July 1, 2025 with ultimate completion September 30, 2026, and a second awarded July 1, 2026 with ultimate completion September 30, 2027. The district's federal footprint is otherwise composed of 41 sub-grants distributed across two funding agencies. The vast majority flow from the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (35 awards), which are block grants or Title I Low Income education funds sub-awarded through the Kansas State Department of Education beginning in 2022 and continuing through September 2026. The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education accounts for the remaining eight awards, all block grants, flowing through the same state intermediary between July 2023 and September 2026. Combined obligations across all 43 awards total $1.8 million.

Activity has accelerated in recent years. The district received two awards in 2022, one in 2023, ten in 2024, eleven in 2025, and seventeen in 2026 as of mid-September. Only one award carries an ultimate completion date within the next twenty-four months, suggesting minimal near-term recompete exposure. The district does not hold federal contracts or seats on federal contract vehicles; its entire federal footprint is grant-based, reflecting its status as a small rural public school system receiving categorical and block education funding through state pass-through mechanisms.