The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

In this report:

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. The Importance of the Census
3. Census Accuracy: The Undercount (and Overcount)
4. Census 2010: Key Operations and Milestones; How You Can Get Involved
   1. Overview of the census plan
   2. What you need to know
   3. How you can help
5. Additional Information
   1. Frequently asked questions
   2. Facts and figures
   3. Census history

Education

The accuracy of the 2010 census has significant implications for the education of the nation's schoolchildren. The ACS provides the U.S. Department of Education with the most comprehensive data on school enrollment and educational attainment. Census population figures are used to draw school district boundaries and determine funding allocations for many education programs. Data from the census provide federal, state, and district governments with benchmarks for evaluating the need for and effectiveness of policies that affect the well-being of children, for determining program eligibility, and for applying financial aid allocation formulas. Census information is needed for the following:

• Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities State Grants that provide support to state education agencies for a variety of drug and violence prevention activities focused primarily on school-age youth;
• Special Education Preschool Grants for children ages 3 through 5. Funds under this program are also used to cover the costs of related services including the salaries of special education teachers, speech therapists, and psychologists;
• Reforming elementary and secondary school programs that serve Native American students under the Indian Education Grants to Local Educational Agencies program; and
• Title I Program for Neglected and Delinquent Children that provides grants to states to help provide education continuity for youth in correctional facilities so they can make successful transitions to school or employment once they are released from state institutions.

Additionally, the census and ACS provide comprehensive demographic data that support the informed development of education policy. Data on school enrollment (including whether individuals attend public or private schools) and educational attainment can be cross-tabulated with information on the nation’s student population and the households in which they live (including location, age, sex, income, family structure, labor force status, and disabilities) to help educational policymakers address specific needs and challenges students might face in their communities.

Census data are also used for a number of critical education functions, including drawing school district boundaries, providing direct aid to schools that serve children with limited English proficiency, determining illiteracy levels among language minorities, profiling the socio-economic conditions of school-age children, and measuring changes in education levels across communities so employers can determine where to locate new jobs. Furthermore, census data are used to help allocate approximately $26 billion annually in education funding (FY 2007):

• The census is used to disperse Title I grants for state educational agencies to improve the education of economically disadvantaged children and to distribute funding for the Rehabilitation Services-Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants program and the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities program;
• Other U.S. Department of Education programs that use the data in their allocation formulas and eligibility determinations include: Special Education - Grants for Infants and Families with Disabilities; Improving Teacher Quality Grants; Education Technology Grants; Rural Education; Even Start State Educational Agencies; and Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration.

There is no comparable comprehensive source of information about the population to support U.S. Department of Education initiatives.

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