2013-2014 School District Review Program

School District Review Program: Quick Start Guide

2013-2014

Quick Start Guide: The Update Process in Five Steps
We recommend that you read this guide in it’s entirety BEFORE starting your work.
The School District Review Program establishes the boundaries used in the income and poverty
estimates used to determine Title I funding for school districts in your state. This guide will help
you get started and most importantly, save you time by reducing unnecessary work. This guide
will briefly go over the process of deciding how to update your school district boundaries.
Your CD includes general guidelines as well as a number of attachments. All participants should
review the general guidelines but you will not need to read all of the attachments. This guide will
help by telling you which attachments apply to your state’s changes.
To begin, gather information on any changes to your school district boundaries since January
1, 2014. You may need to contact each school district and ask for their changes or for their
updated maps. We suggest you also check with other state education officials, county planners or
your state data center. They may know of good boundary sources or have the boundary data
itself. The U.S. Census Bureau’s latest school district boundary data (as of January 1, 2012) is
available online using the Census Bureau’s TIGERweb Map Viewer at:
http://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/tigerweb. This may be the easiest way for your local school
districts to review the boundaries we currently have. See Attachment F for information on
viewing boundaries online through the Census Bureau’s TIGERweb and American FactFinder
applications.
Next, you should determine which counties have changes to their school districts. You may
know which counties have school districts with reported changes or you may need to use the
MAF/TIGER Partnership Software (MTPS) or your own GIS to compare the Census Bureau
boundaries to the boundaries sent to you by each school district to determine if there are updates.
If you do need to use the MTPS to identify your school district changes, use attachment A to
load the MTPS. At this time, you should only use the MTPS to view your updated files in
comparison with the Census Bureau files. Do not begin to make changes at this time.

Here is an outline of the process you should follow for each county:
Step One: Determine changes to be submitted via submission log vs. MTPS and
record the submission log changes.
Step Two: Find your MTPS AREA changes (boundary changes, complex
dissolutions, complex consolidations and new school districts.)
Step Three: For these area changes, decide if you need to add a line or which
existing line to use.

Submission
Log Step
Steps
Using
MTPS

Step Four: Complete your boundary for all MTPS AREA changes.
Step Five: Work on any other minor boundary discrepancies.
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We will now go over how to evaluate school district changes using a step by step technique that
will save you time. Please, DO NOT just load your updated school district shapefile boundaries
in the MTPS and draw in new lines. This will be time consuming and cause more work for you,
and we may not be able to accept many of the updates.
There are two methods to submit school district changes to the Census Bureau. The submission
log is an excel file used to report certain school district changes and is located on your Census
Bureau data disk. The MTPS is software used to view and update school district geography. The
method (submission log or MTPS) you use to report changes will depend on the type of change
you are reporting. The chart below summarizes how various types of changes should be reported.
Step One: Determine which changes can be submitted through the submission log and
which changes will be submitted using the MTPS. The following pages contain diagrams to
help you determine the various types of school district changes. Use these as a guide to
determine, for example, if your consolidation is simple or complex. This is important because
you will report a simple consolidation using the submission log and a complex consolidation
using the MTPS. Accordingly, you cannot begin your work until you determine what kind of
change you have so that you can report it using the appropriate method. Table 1 below lists the
types of changes, how to report them and where to find information about them in the guidelines.
Table 1: School District Changes and How to Report Them
Type of Change

Report Using

In Guidelines

Boundary Change/Boundary Correction *

MTPS

Attachment A, page 16

Complex Consolidation *

MTPS

Attachment A, page 25

Complex Dissolution *

MTPS

Attachment A, page 22

Grade Range Change +

Submission Log

Attachment B

Level Change +

Submission Log

Attachment B

Name Change

Submission Log

Attachment B

New School District *

MTPS

Attachment A, page 28

Pseudo School District ^

Call Census Bureau

Attachment E

Simple Consolidation *

Submission Log

Attachment B

Simple Dissolution *

Submission Log

Attachment B

+ A Grade Range Change occurs when a school district changes the grades it covers, for example,
changing from covering 9-12 to 7-12. A Level Change occurs when a school district changes
classification, for example, changing from elementary to unified.
* See the next six pages for examples of consolidations, dissolutions, boundary changes, and a new
school district.
^ See attachment G for the definition of a Pseudo School District

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Complex Dissolution: for this type of change, use the MTPS
Riverside Unified

Central
Unified

Lakeview Unified

There are five school districts currently
in this county.

Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

Complex
Dissolution

Riverside Unified

Lakeview Unified

Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

Riverside Unified

Lakeview Unified

Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

The term complex dissolution refers to
the situation where a single school district
is dissolved and its area is split between
two or more other existing school
districts, with or without additional
boundary changes/corrections. A new
school district is not created, and the
names and LEA codes of the receiving
school districts are retained.

Central Unified School District has
dissolved. Lakeview Unified School
District will take a portion and Riverside
Unified School District will take the rest.
This is a complex dissolution because a
single school district is dissolved and its
area is split between two or more other
existing school districts. A new school
district is not created.
The grey area represents the former
school district with the new boundaries
of Lakeview Unified and Riverside
Unified.

The final school districts. No new school
district is created.

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Simple Dissolution: for these types of changes, use the submission log
Riverside Unified

Central
Unified

Lakeview Unified

There are 5 school districts currently
in this county.
Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

The term simple dissolution refers to
the situation where one or more
existing school districts are entirely
absorbed by one other existing school
district. A new school district is not
created. The name and LEA code of
the receiving school district are
retained.

Lakeview Unified

Central Unified has dissolved, and
Riverside Unified will take all of the
area Central Unified used to cover.
This is considered a simple
dissolution because one district is
completely taking all of the area of
another district. No new district is
created and the dissolved district does
not exist anymore.

Simple
Dissolution

Riverside Unified

Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

Riverside Unified

Lakeview Unified

The grey area represents the former
Central Unified with Riverside
Unified taking all of the area.

The final school districts. No new
school district is created.
Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

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Complex Consolidation: for these types of changes, use the MTPS
Riverside Unified

Central
Unified

Lakeview Unified

Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

Complex
Consolidation

Riverside Unified

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Central-Lakeview Unified

Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

There are 5 school districts currently
in this county.
The term complex consolidation refers to
the situation where two or more school
districts merge to create a NEW school
district with a new name and new LEA
code, along with additional boundary
changes/corrections. This type of
consolidation also contains boundary
corrections and/or changes that modify
the outer edge of the new school district.
Therefore, if you delineate a complex
consolidation, we will expect
accompanying boundary corrections or
changes for the new school district.

Central Unified and Lakeview
Unified consolidate to create one
school district: Central-Lakeview
Unified. The consolidation also
includes additional boundary
changes for the new CentralLakeview Unified.
The former Central Unified and
Lakeview Unified School Districts
are shown in transparency here.

Riverside Unified
Central-Lakeview Unified
Central-Lakeview Unified

The final school districts are shown
here. Note that a new school
district is created with a new LEA
code.

Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

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Simple Consolidation: for these types of changes, use the submission log
Riverside Unified

Central
Unified

Lakeview Unified

There are 5 school districts currently
in this county.
Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

Simple
Consolidation

Riverside Unified
Central-Lakeview Unified

Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

Riverside Unified
Central-Lakeview Unified

The term simple consolidation refers to
the situation where two or more school
districts merge to create a NEW school
district with a new name and new LEA
code, with no additional boundary
changes/corrections. There is no change
in the overall boundaries of the former
school districts.

For a simple consolidation, Central
Unified and Lakeview Unified
consolidate to form a single school
district. The outer boundaries of
Central Unified and Lakeview
Unified are not changed; the two
districts have simply consolidated
into one without any additional
boundary corrections.

The final school districts are shown
here. A new school district (and
LEA) is created for the new
Central-Lakeview Unified School
District.

Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

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Boundary Correction: For these types of changes, use the MTPS
Riverside Unified

Central
Unified

Lakeview Unified

There are 5 school districts currently
in this county.
Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

Boundary
Change

Riverside Unified

Central
Unified

Lakeview Unified

Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

Lakeview Unified

Riverside Unified
Central
Unified
Springfield Unified

Greenville Unified

In a boundary change or boundary
correction, one or many school
districts may gain and lose area. In
this scenario, Riverside Unified
gained area from Central Unified and
also lost area to Central Unified.
Also, Lakeview Unified gained area
from Central Unified.

Notice that all five original school
districts still exist, three with
different boundaries. No school
districts were created or dissolved.

The final school districts are shown
here.

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New School District: For these types of changes, use the MTPS
Central
Unified

Riverside Unified

Lakeview Unified

There are five school districts currently
in this county.

Springfield Unified
Greenville Unified

New
School
District

Central
Unified

Riverside Unified

Lakeview Unified

Jefferson Unified

Greenville Unified

Springfield Unified

Central
Unified

Riverside Unified

Lakeview Unified

Jefferson Unified

Springfield Unified

Greenville Unified

The term New District is the process of
transferring areas from one or more
existing school districts to form a
completely new school district. Please do
not confuse this transaction with a
consolidation where the entire area of
one of more school districts is combined
to form a new school district. The existing
school districts are not deleted and their
names and LEA codes are not altered.

In this example, Jefferson Unified is a
new school district. Jefferson Unified
will take area from the existing school
districts but otherwise the existing
school districts will not be affected.
Here is the area the new school district
will cover.
The new school district, Jefferson
Unified, is shown here along with the
existing school districts. No existing
school districts have been deleted.
Please note: you will also use the
action “New District” when you need
to add an existing school district to a
county in which that existing school
district was not previously present.
Please see page 28 of attachment A
for more information.

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Once you have determined the types of changes you need to report, you can use attachment B to
report any changes appropriate for the submission log. If you have additional changes that need
to be reported though the MTPS, please continue to step two.
Step Two: Find your boundary and other area changes that are reported using the MTPS.
You may do this by looking at maps of your school districts or uploading a shapefile (or other
GIS files) into the MTPS. (See attachment A for guidance.) You may notice many differences
between the school districts in the MTPS and your shapefile or when comparing your maps to
the MTPS. Zoom to the significant changes first as shown below.
For example, look at the two areas circled in red on the top and bottom of the screenshot. Notice
how the local school district boundaries (symbolized by the pink line) differ noticeably from the
purple Census Bureau school district boundaries.
Now, look at the area circled in yellow in the middle: the two boundaries differ very slightly.
Concentrate first on the area changes like the ones circled in red. Once you have completed
reporting all of those, you can evaluate the areas where the boundaries differ very slightly like
the one circled in yellow below. This will save you time and ensure better boundaries.

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Step Three: Decide if you will need to add a new line for your area boundary change.
Here is an example to show how to decide whether or not you need to add a new line for your
new boundary:

Example: You need to move the boundary of the school district (shown in purple) to
Horseshoe Road, near the orange line. Your shapefile, the orange line, shows the new
boundary to be updated. Should you use Horseshoe Road as the boundary or add a line
following your orange shapefile and use that new line as the boundary?
Consider the following questions in this order: (see the flowchart on the last page)
1) Which feature (in this case, road) should the school district boundary
follow? Your file should have details about the boundary, such as road name. If
your files show the boundary on Horseshoe Road, then you should use the road as
it appears in the Census Bureau’s shapefile in the MTPS, even if the road is
spatially “off.” If you’re not sure what feature the boundary should follow or your
files do not show Horseshoe Road as the boundary, move on to number two
below.
2) Are there housing units between your boundary and the nearest feature? In
this case, are there housing units between your shapefile line, in orange, and
Horseshoe Road? If yes, you should add a line following your shapefile but read
attachment C for more guidance. Use imagery to help you determine if there’s
housing. (Imagery is available in the MTPS; see attachment A.) If there are no
housing units, move on to number three below.

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3) Is the difference significant? This will depend on the geography of the area in
question, but in general, differences of less than 30-40 feet are not significant
when housing units are not present. Accordingly, if your boundary is less than 30
feet from Horseshoe Road, use Horseshoe Road as the boundary. If the distance is
greater than 30 feet, add your own line to use as the boundary but read attachment
C first. In very remote areas with sparse population, a difference of 60-75 feet is
not significant.
If the guidelines in step three led you to add a line, add a line before moving on to
step four. If not, move onto step four directly. See attachment C for information on
how to correctly add a line. The Census Bureau will NOT make any feature (such as a
road) modifications through the SDRP. See attachment C for more information.
Step Four: Make your boundary change. See Attachment A for information.
Repeat Steps one through four for every AREA change including boundary
changes, complex consolidations, complex dissolutions and new school districts.
After you have completed all of the area changes for your counties, you may have time to
work on minor boundary corrections. See the next page for step five and information on
how to correct small differences between the Census Bureau’s boundary files and your
own.
Step Five: After you have completed all of your area changes, you may review small
differences between your boundary and the Census Bureau’s boundaries following these
guidelines:
Example: While reviewing
your file for changes, you
notice the Census Bureau
boundary (in purple)
does not quite match your
boundary (in orange).
Does this mean you should
submit this as a boundary
correction?

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Consider the following questions in this order:
1) Which feature (in this case, road) should the school district boundary follow? Your
file should have details about the boundary, such as road name. If your files show the
boundary on Center Road, then you should leave the Census Bureau boundary as it is,
even if the road is spatially “off” in comparison to your boundary. (For more information,
see attachment C.) If you’re not sure what feature the boundary should follow or your
files do not show Center Road as the boundary, move on to number two below.
2) Are there housing units between your boundary and the Census Bureau boundary?
In this case, are there housing units between your shapefile line (in orange) and Center
Road? If yes, you should submit a change to the Census Bureau but read attachment C for
more guidance. If there are no housing units, move on to number three below.
3) Is the difference significant? This will depend on the geography of the area in question,
but in general, differences of less than 30-40 feet are not significant when housing units
are not present. Accordingly, if your boundary is less than 30 feet from Center Road, do
not make any updates to the boundary. If the distance is greater than 30 feet, you will
need to add your own line but read the attachment C for more guidance. In very remote
areas with sparse population, a difference of 60-75 feet is not significant.

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Decision Chart: Do you need to add a new line for your boundary?

Start
1
Do your records show the school district
boundary on a road or feature (example:
river) or on another boundary such as an
incorporated place?

yes

Find that same road or
feature or other boundary in
the MTPS and use it as the
school district boundary

no or unsure

2
Are there housing units between the
school district boundary from your
records and the nearest Census Bureau
road or feature?

yes

Add a new line, but
use the guidelines in
attachment E

no or unsure

3

yes

Add a new line, but
use the guidelines in
attachment E

no

Use the nearest
Census Bureau road or
feature for the new
school district
boundary.

Is the difference significant? For most
areas, is there more than 30 feet between
your boundary and the nearest Census
Bureau feature? (75 feet in very remote
areas)

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