2020 Census Will Help School Districts Prepare for Next Generation of Students

The end date for collection of 2020 Census data has been updated since this article was published. It now is Sept. 30.

In counties and cities across the country where the population is growing quickly, demand for new schools and educational resources is growing, too.

Take, for instance, the 27J School District outside Denver.

The combined population of three counties in the district has jumped by 30% since the 2010 Census – the last nationwide count – and was swelling so fast that the district in 2015 began issuing bonds to construct new schools.

Last spring, three new schools were under construction, and middle- and high-school students there were sharing the newly opened Riverdale Ridge High School for the first half of the school year.

“In 2010, we were still feeling the effect of the recession both in terms of residential development and, consequently, student enrollment,” said Kerrie Monti, district planning manager. Fast forward five years and the district was issuing bonds to build new schools.

Denver is not alone.

In Virginia’s Loudoun County, one of the nation’s fastest-growing counties, increases in public school enrollment has been staggering.

In 2000, the school district had 45 schools and 29,254 students. By 2010, enrollment had doubled to 60,403 students in 76 schools. By the end of 2020, the district will operate 94 school facilities with a projected enrollment of 83,762 students based on annual estimates – nearly three times the number in 2000, according to the district.

Growing populations lead to growing demand for new schools.

“Enrollment projections [tied to census statistics] drive the need for new schools,” said Beverly Tate, director of Planning Services for Loudoun County Public Schools. “Renovations and/or additions at a number of schools have resulted from Loudoun’s public-school enrollment growth.”

Results from the 2020 Census are important to school districts across the country – whether fast growing or not – because they  provide a baseline for the next 10  years of school planning.

School districts use the numbers to ensure there are enough buildings and classrooms for children as they move through the school system.

Plus, results from the 2020 Census will be used by federal, state and local officials to inform decisions on how to spend billions of dollars in federal funds on education programs like Head Start for pre-K children, free- or reduced-priced school lunches for low-income children and teacher training programs.

That is why it is so important for families and caregivers to count everyone in their household when they respond to the 2020 Census, especially all children who live with them, including babies born on or before April 1.

Children under five are among the nation’s most undercounted populations, and school districts can’t plan for children they don’t know will be coming to schools in the future.

“The census only comes around once a decade,” said Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham. “A kindergartener counted in the 2020 Census … will be in high school when the next census comes around in 2030; that’s 10 years of school supplies, teachers, school lunches and school resources that are dependent on ensuring every child is counted.”

It’s not too late to respond to the 2020 Census online at 2020census.gov, by phone at 844-330-2020, or by returning the paper questionnaire you received in the mail. By early August, census takers are set to begin visiting households that have not yet responded to the census to help ensure everyone is counted, including children. The deadline to respond is Oct. 31.