St. Paul Island tribe awarded $649,890 for math project for Pribilof students

The Aleut Community of St. Paul Island's project to build math skills among Pribilof School District students has been awarded $649,890 by the U.S. Department of Education. The money goes to the tribe rather than the school district.

The award comes from the department's Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program. The project is titled "Cultivating Enhanced Math Skills for Students in the Pribilof School District," and the federal award record shows it running from Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2027. The district reported 56 students in kindergarten through 12th grade last fall.

The grant is close to the competition's $650,000 limit per award. Of the six awards recorded so far nationally, St. Paul's is the only one in Alaska and the only one to a tribe.

The tribe holds other federal grants for St. Paul students. An earlier Alaska Native Education project it proposed, with the district as its only site, carried a $1,497,140 award. The tribe also has a $1 million Justice Department school-safety project at St. Paul School and two 2025 Education Department grants totaling about $1.8 million, spending records show.

Federal records do not say which grades or how many students will take part, how students will be identified as gifted, who will staff the project or whether the district is a formal partner, and the Education Department has not posted the project's abstract. Javits projects can run up to five years, but this award covers one. This account is based on federal records and does not include comment from the tribe, the district or the Education Department.