2025SDRP_NCES_InvitationLetter

OMB No. 0607-0987 Approval Expires 08/31/2024

July 2024
Dear State Education Chief,
I am writing to request your assistance with school district boundary updates that will affect your state’s federal
allocation under Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as
amended. Title I requires the U.S. Department of Education to allocate funds to states based on annually updated
school district population and poverty estimates of school-age children developed by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Census Bureau relies on updated school district boundaries reported by states to create these estimates.
Participation in the boundary review is voluntary, but more than $17 billion of Title I funds are allocated to states
based on estimates developed from these boundaries, so your attention is strongly encouraged.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the Census Bureau request that you designate a
mapping coordinator within one week of receiving this letter. The designated coordinator will review current
school district boundary information for your state through the Census Bureau’s School District Review Program
(SDRP). The mapping coordinator will provide the SDRP with updates and corrections to Local Education
Agency (LEA) names, federal identification numbers, boundaries, grade ranges, and geographic relationships in
your state. The state Title I Coordinator is responsible for overseeing the SDRP, reviewing all materials, and
returning updates to the Census Bureau. Please consider the responsibilities detailed in the addendum of this
letter when selecting the mapping coordinator.
The Census Bureau requires the mapping coordinator’s name, business address, phone number, e-mail address,
and permission to post this contact information on the SDRP website. In addition, please provide the name and
e-mail address of your state’s Title I Coordinator. The Census Bureau requests this information be sent by e-mail
to geo.school@census.gov within one week of receiving this letter. SDRP materials will be provided to the
mapping coordinator in September 2024. The SDRP requests updates to the school district information as it will
exist on January 1, 2025 (for School Year 2024 - 2025). For more information on the SDRP please see:
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sdrp.html.
If you have any questions about the SDRP, please contact the SDRP team at the Census Bureau by telephone at
301-763-1099 or by email at geo.school@census.gov.
Sincerely,

Peggy G. Carr, Ph.D.
Commissioner, National Center for Education Statistics
Addendum: Responsibilities of Mapping Coordinator
Cc:

2024 SDRP Mapping Coordinator, 2024 State Title I Coordinator,
Common Core of Data – Non-fiscal and Fiscal Coordinators
550 12th Street SW Washington, DC 20202

OMB No. 0607-0987 Approval Expires 08/31/2024

Addendum:
Responsibilities of Mapping Coordinator
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Determine the best source for school district boundary and data updates.
Initiate and maintain contact with all local school district officials to ensure the timely review and submission of
any school district updates/corrections to boundaries, names, codes, grade ranges, levels or relationship to other
geographic entities.
Act as liaison between local superintendents, the state Department of Education, and the Geography Division
(GEO) of the Census Bureau.
Review submissions from state or local education officials for accuracy, validity, and completeness before
delivery to the Census Bureau.
Adjudicate boundary discrepancies between school districts.
Provide detailed boundary update submissions via digital map files.
Provide updates to school district inventory, county coverage, and relationship files as necessary.

We estimate that participating in the School District Review Program will take 40 hours on average. Email comments regarding
this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, using
Paperwork Reduction Project 0607-0987 as the subject, to geo.school@census.gov. This collection has been approved by the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The eight-digit OMB approval number that appears at the upper right of this document
confirms this approval. If this number were not displayed, we could not conduct this program. The Census Bureau’s legal authority
for conducting activities in this document comes from Title 13 United States Code, Sections 16, 141, and 193. The NCES’ legal
authority for conducting activities in this document comes from Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as
amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, Public Law (P.L.) 114-95.

550 12th Street SW Washington, DC 20202