St. Paul Island tribe gets $649,890 federal grant for Pribilof School District math

The Aleut Community of Saint Paul Island will receive $649,890 in federal money to build math skills in the Pribilof School District. The money goes to the tribe, not to the district it names.

The U.S. Department of Education made the award under the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program. The project is titled "Cultivating Enhanced Math Skills for Students in the Pribilof School District." 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 on Oct. 1, 2025. That works out to about $11,600 per student for the first year. The district's own federal awards this cycle include $9,172 under the Small, Rural School Achievement program and $17,677 in Indian Education formula funds.

The competition notice expected about 17 awards, averaging $550,000, from $9 million, with a $650,000 ceiling. Six have been recorded so far. St. Paul is the only Alaska recipient and the only tribe.

The competition set aside one of its two funding categories for tribes, tribal organizations, tribal education agencies and state education agencies. The records do not say which category St. Paul entered. The competition also bars grantees from awarding subgrants.

An earlier Alaska Native Education project the tribe proposed listed the district as its only site. That earlier project carried a $1,497,140 award, more than double this year's grant. The tribe also holds other federal grants for St. Paul students, including 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.

The federal records do not say who counts as gifted, which grades take part, 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 60 months, but this award covers one year. This account rests on federal records alone and contains no statement from the tribe, the district or the Department of Education.