PSAP Verification Phase; TSAP Verification Phase; SDRP Verification Phase; Redistricting Data Program Verification Phase

2009-2010 School District Review Program (SDRP)
Verification Procedures for Paper Map Participants

1.0 Verification Introduction
1.1 Background
The U. S. Census Bureau sent annotation materials for the School District Review
Program (SDRP) in early August 2009 to the appointed mapping coordinator in each of
the fifty states and the District of Columbia. During the late summer and fall of 2009, the
mapping coordinators contacted school district officials in their state asking them to
review their boundaries and submit any school district boundary updates. Upon receipt
of school district boundary updates, the mapping coordinators were responsible for
reviewing, adjudicating, annotating and submitting digital files, submission logs, or paper
map delineations to the U.S. Census Bureau headquarters office located in Suitland, MD
for insertion into Census Bureau databases.
Delineations submitted to the Census Bureau were reviewed by headquarters staff
according to the criteria and guidelines set forth in the SDRP materials that were included
in the August 2009 delivery. Headquarters staff completed a final review of all
submissions and added school district boundary changes and line features into the
database. In some cases, the Census Bureau made minor changes to participant
submissions so that the school district delineated would meet the criteria outlined in the
SDRP guidelines.
The verification phase of the 2009-2010 SDRP is the opportunity for mapping
coordinators and school district officials to review their school district boundaries as they
now exist in the Census Bureau’s databases following any updates that have occurred
during the initial submission phase. During the verification phase participants verify or
request changes to their school district boundaries using information contained in this
document and supplementary materials posted at the 2009-2010 School District Review
Program (SDRP) website. Verification materials are being provided to all participants
from whom the Census Bureau received school district updates by the October 30, 2009
deadline. The verification materials include updates only for school districts in those
counties which were received by this deadline. Any submissions received after the
October 30, 2009 deadline are not included in the verification materials, but will be
included in the poverty estimates released in November 2010.
These guidelines provide information for verifying and reviewing school district
boundaries as they currently exist in Census Bureau databases. Verification procedures
for the school district listings are in Section 2.2, while paper map verification information
is noted in Section 2.3. Section 2.4 address the Paper Work Reduction Act
1.2 Key Schedule Dates
February 2010 – Mapping coordinators are notified by e-mail that their verification
materials are available for review and verification.

February–March 2010 – Verification responses are sent via mail (paper map
participants only), e-mail or electronically to the U.S. Census Bureau by mapping
coordinators.
March-May 2010 – The U.S. Census Bureau makes any changes to the database or
resolves delineation errors with the aid of the mapping coordinator.

2.0 Verification Procedures
2.1 Verification Overview
Verifying your school district boundaries is a very important component to participating
in SDRP. Correct school districts boundaries allows the Census Bureau to create
estimates and tabulations of decennial census data by school district geography. These
estimates and tabulations provide detailed demographic characteristics of the nation’s
public school systems and offer one of the largest single sources of children’s
demographic characteristics currently available. This information is distributed through
the Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The SDRP
is of vital importance for each state’s allocation under Title I of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Public
Law (P.L.) 107-110. The school district information obtained through this program,
along with the 2010 Census population and income data, current population estimates,
and tabulations of administrative records data, are used in forming the Census Bureau’s
estimates of the number of children aged 5 through 17 in low-income families for each
school district. These estimates of the number of children in low-income families
residing within each school district are the basis of the Title I allocation for each school
district.
In addition to reviewing the boundaries for your school districts, the Census Bureau asks
that you review relevant listings including the following: Inventory and Grade Range
(all states), County Coverage (all states), Coextensive Coverage (limited states), and
Relationship (limited states). Verification of the data contained in these listings ensures
that all school districts in a state are accounted for and that any spatial relationship(s)
with other geographic entities is correctly recorded and maintained.
The Inventory and Grade Range (_SD_Inventory_V.txt) file is a listing of all the
school districts the Census Bureau has in its database and includes the school district
name, Federal Local Education Agency (LEA) ID number, level, type and grade range.
The County Coverage (_County_Coverage_V.txt) file is a listing that contains two
sets of records: one set sorted by school district (arranged to show the county or counties
in which a school district is located) and the other set sorted by county (arranged to show
the school districts that are located in each county). Each set includes a separate record
for each unique school district/county combination.

The Coextensive Coverage (_Coextensive_Coverage_V.txt) file is a listing of
school districts that are coextensive with legal entities such as counties, county
equivalents, or incorporated places. Please Note: Only those states that received this
listing in their annotation materials will receive one in their verification materials.
The Relationship (_SD_by_SD_V.txt) file is a listing of school districts that are
commonly coextensive with one or more incorporated place and/or county subdivision
(town, township, borough, etc.). Please Note: Only those states that received this listing
in their annotation materials will receive one in their verification materials.
All verification materials are located for review on the 2009-2010 School District Review
Program (SDRP) website at www.census.gov/geo/www/schdist/sch_dist.html.
If you find the delineation of your school districts to be correct, the Census Bureau
requests that mapping coordinators communicate this by e-mail to
geo.school.list@census.gov.
2.2 Verification of Listings
The verification listings, which are described above, are text files. These files are located
for review on the 2009-2010 School District Review Program (SDRP) website at
www.census.gov/geo/www/schdist/sch_dist.html.
Follow the steps below to verify and correct any incorrect data contained in these files:
1. Click on the hyperlink Verification Materials on the SDRP website.
2. Click on the hyperlink for your state name. If the link for your state is not “live,”
this indicates that your files are not yet available for review.
3.

Click on the “files” folder.

4. Click on the individual text file you wish to review.
5.

Review and verify the contents of the selected text file.

6. If corrections need to be made to the information contained in any listing, the
mapping coordinator should notify the Census Bureau by e-mail at
geo.school.list@census.gov.


If there are only a few corrections that need to be made, provide the
incorrect and correct information in the body of the e-mail for the data that
need to be corrected.



If several corrections need to be made, provide the required information in
either a Word document or Excel spreadsheet attached to the e-mail.

2.3 Paper Map Verification
The Census Bureau has created verification maps for your state after completing the
submitted school district boundary updates in the Census Bureau’s databases. The
verification maps will reflect only those submissions that were received by the October
30, 2009 deadline.
These maps are located for review on the 2009-2010 School District Review Program
(SDRP) website at www.census.gov/geo/www/schdist/sch_dist.html.
Follow the steps below to verify and make corrections to the delineations:
1. Click on the hyperlink Verification Materials on the SDRP website.
2. Click on your state name. If the link for your state is not “live,” this indicates that
your materials are not yet available for review.
3.

Click on the “maps” folder.

4. Click on each individual map sheet listed and carefully review all boundaries of
those school districts shown.
5. If minor changes need to be made to school district boundaries, mapping
coordinators should call the Census Bureau to discuss the situation and determine
if a paper map is required to make the correction.
6. If significant changes need to be made to school district boundaries, mapping
coordinators may request the Census Bureau to print and ship paper copies of the
maps to either the requesting mapping coordinator or the school district official by
sending an e-mail to geo.school.list@census.gov.
Detailed instructions on how to request a map sheet(s) and procedures for annotating
paper maps and submitting them to the Census Bureau can be found in Attachment C:
School District Review Program Guidelines for Participants Using Paper Maps, which
has been posted to your state folder under Verification Materials on the 2009-2010 SDRP
website. Please note: there are no Attachments A or B in your “file” folder, as those
attachments are only relevant to digital (not paper map) participants.
Important Note: The last day to request paper maps is Friday, February 26, 2010.
The Census Bureau’s Headquarters staff will provide feedback to mapping coordinators
on their verification corrections, and if necessary provide additional guidance on the
criteria and guideline usage. They may also need to contact you with any questions or
concerns regarding verification corrections.

2.4 Disclosures to Respondents
The Geography Division manages programs to continuously update features, boundaries,
addresses, and geographic entities in the Master Address File / Topologically Integrated
Geographic Encoding and Referencing System (MAF/TIGER) database (MTDB) that is
used to support programs and to conduct the census and surveys. The SDRP was
developed to give states the opportunity to review and update, if necessary, school district
entities for use in tabulating and publishing data from the 2010 Census, the American
Community Survey, and other surveys.
Public reporting burden for the verification of information is estimated to average 16
hours per respondent, including time for reviewing instructions, assembling materials,
organizing and reviewing the information, and reporting any needed changes. We
anticipate that an estimated 34 participants will respond. For larger areas or areas with
many changes, however, the respondent burden may be 80 hours or longer to complete.
Please send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this
collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to:
Paperwork Project
0607-0795
U.S. Census Bureau
4600 Silver Hill Road
Room 3K138
Washington, D.C. 20233
You may e-mail comments to Paperwork@census.gov. Use “Paperwork Project 06070795” as the subject.
Responses to this survey are voluntary. The authority for conducting these activities is
covered under the legal authority of Title 13 U.S.C. Sections 141 and 193.
No agency may conduct and no person may be required to respond to a collection of
information unless it displays a valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval
number. The OMB approval number for this information collection is 0607-0795.