Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; School District Review Program, 4464-4465 [2018-01847]

Agencies

• Census Bureau
• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 21 (Wednesday, January 31, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4464-4465]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-01847]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; School District 
Review Program

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort 
to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public 
and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on 
proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: To ensure consideration, submit written comments, on or before 
April 2, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Jennifer Jessup, Departmental 
Paperwork Clearance Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th 
and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230 (or through the 
internet at [email protected]). You may also submit comments, 
identified by Docket Number USBC-2017-0007 to the Federal e-Rulemaking 
Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. All comments received are part of 
the public record. No comments will be posted to https://www.regulations.gov for public viewing until after the comment period 
has closed. Comments will generally be posted without change. All 
Personally Identifiable Information (for example, name and address) 
voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do 
not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or 
protected information. You may submit attachments to electronic 
comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file 
formats only.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Direct requests for additional 
information or copies of the information collection instrument(s) and 
instructions to Robin A. Pennington, U.S. Census Bureau, 4600 Silver 
Hill Road, Washington, DC 20233 (or through the internet at 
[email protected]).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract

    The School District Review Program (SDRP) is one of many voluntary 
geographic partnership programs at the U.S. Census Bureau. The SDRP 
collects school district information and boundaries to update the 
Census Bureau's geographic database of addresses, streets, and 
boundaries. The Census Bureau uses its geographic database to tie 
demographic data from surveys and the decennial census to locations and 
areas, such as cities, school districts, and counties. To tabulate 
statistics by localities, the Census Bureau must have accurate 
addresses and boundaries.
    The boundaries collected in SDRP and other geographic programs will 
create census blocks, which are the building blocks for all Census 
Bureau geographic boundaries. Census blocks are the smallest unit of 
census geography used for tabulating data. Blocks nest within every 
other type of geographic area, including school districts. By combining 
census blocks, the Census Bureau is able to accurately report the exact 
number of people in each geographic area, including school districts, 
according to that area's boundaries. While the geographic programs 
differ in requirements, time frame, and participants, SDRP and the 
other geographic programs all follow the same basic process:
    1. The Census Bureau invites eligible participants to take part in 
the program. For SDRP, the Census Bureau invites state Title I 
coordinators and mapping coordinators.
    2. If they elect to join the program, participants receive a copy 
of the boundaries or addresses that the Census Bureau has on file. The 
Census Bureau also provides SDRP participants with free customized 
mapping software to facilitate their work.
    3. Participants review the boundaries or addresses in the Census 
Bureau-provided digital maps and update them if needed. For SDRP, 
participants reach out to contacts in their state to collect updates.
    4. Participants return their updates to the Census Bureau. In the 
SDRP, this is known as the Annotation Phase.
    5. The Census Bureau updates its geographic database with boundary 
or address updates from participants.
    6. In the SDRP Verification Phase, the Census Bureau creates maps 
from its geographic database and sends them to participants for final 
review.
    7. The Census Bureau uses the newly updated boundaries and 
addresses to tabulate statistics.
    The Census Bureau requests state officials to review and update the 
school district information the Census Bureau has on file through the 
SDRP. State officials will provide the Census Bureau with updates as 
well as corrections to the federal Local Education Agency (LEA) 
identification numbers, school district boundaries, school names, grade 
ranges, and levels for which each school district is financially 
responsible.
    The main purpose of the school district information obtained 
through this program is to assist in forming the Census Bureau's 
estimates of the number of families with children, aged 5 through 17, 
in poverty for each school district for the U.S. Department of 
Education. These Census Bureau estimates are the basis of the Title I 
allocation for each school district. The SDRP is of vital importance 
for each state's allocation under Title I of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as amended by Every Student Succeeds Act 
of 2015, Public Law 114-95. The U.S. Department of Education uses these 
estimates to allocate more than $14 billion in Title I funding 
annually.
    The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) sponsors the 
SDRP. The NCES identifies a Title I coordinator for each state and the 
District of Columbia, and the Census Bureau works with the Title I 
coordinator on assigning a mapping coordinator in each state to work 
with the Census Bureau to implement this work. The mapping coordinator 
collects updates from local school districts, state education 
officials, county planners, and state data centers, and ensures that 
submissions are completed within the SDRP's time frame. The respondents 
for the SDRP are the Title I coordinators and mapping coordinators from 
the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
    The SDRP encompasses Type 1 and Type 2 school districts as defined 
by the NCES. Type 1 is a local school district that is not a component 
of a supervisory union. Type 2 is a local school district component of 
a supervisory union sharing a superintendent and administrative 
services with other local school districts.
    The SDRP consists of two phases--the Annotation Phase and the 
Verification Phase. In the Annotation Phase, the Census Bureau provides 
mapping coordinators with materials containing the most current school 
district boundaries and information the Census Bureau has on file for 
their state. Mapping coordinators review the data and submit changes to 
the school district boundaries or information to the Census Bureau. The 
Census Bureau reviews and processes the information submitted by 
mapping coordinators, and the Census Bureau updates all verified 
changes into the Master Address File/Topologically Integrated 
Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) database. In the 
Verification Phase, mapping coordinators verify that the Census Bureau 
accurately and

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completely updated the MAF/TIGER database with updates submitted during 
the Annotation Phase.

II. Method of Collection

Annotation Phase

    In the Annotation Phase, mapping coordinators gather school 
district updates from school district superintendents and other state 
officials and use Census Bureau-provided materials to review and update 
school district boundaries, names, codes, and geographic relationships. 
The Census Bureau provides mapping coordinators with school district 
listings, spatial data in Esri shapefile format, blank submission logs, 
and Geographic Update Partnership Software (GUPS). The school district 
listings consist of school district inventories, school names, levels, 
grade ranges, and other data about school districts within their state. 
If the mapping coordinator has non-spatial updates (e.g., name changes, 
simple consolidations, simple dissolutions, and others), the mapping 
coordinator updates the Census Bureau-provided submission log with 
those changes. If a mapping coordinator needs to perform spatial 
updates to a school district boundary, the mapping coordinator uses 
Census Bureau provided GUPS and spatial data to make updates. GUPS, 
SDRP version, is a Census Bureau-created, user-friendly, free digital 
mapping tool for mapping coordinators. It contains all the 
functionality necessary for mapping coordinators to spatially make and 
validate their school district updates. Once mapping coordinators have 
reviewed and updated the school district information for their state, 
the mapping coordinator sends it to the Census Bureau, using Secure Web 
Incoming Module (SWIM), a web portal for uploading SDRP submissions. 
The Census Bureau will update the MAF/TIGER database with the updates 
sent by the mapping coordinator.

Verification Phase

    In the Verification Phase, the Census Bureau sends mapping 
coordinators newly created listings and digital files, and mapping 
coordinators use the SDRP verification module in GUPS to review these 
files and verify that the Census Bureau correctly captured their 
submitted information. The mapping coordinator can tag the area of 
issue and send the information to the Census Bureau to make corrections 
if the Census Bureau did not incorporate their boundary changes or 
other updates correctly.

Schedule

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August 2018.......................  Annotation Phase begins for the 2019
                                     SDRP.
December 2018.....................  Deadline to submit 2019 SDRP
                                     Annotation Phase to the Census
                                     Bureau.
April 2019........................  SDRP Verification Phase for 2019
                                     SDRP begins and ends.
August 2019.......................  Annotation Phase begins for the 2020
                                     SDRP.
December 2019.....................  Deadline to submit 2020 SDRP
                                     Annotation Phase updates to the
                                     Census Bureau.
                                    Preliminary poverty estimates, based
                                     on the updated school district
                                     geographic framework collected in
                                     the 2019 SDRP, released.
April 2020........................  SDRP Verification Phase for 2020
                                     SDRP begins and ends.
August 2020.......................  Annotation Phase begins for the 2021
                                     SDRP.
December 2020.....................  Deadline to submit 2021 SDRP
                                     Annotation Phase to the Census
                                     Bureau.
                                    Preliminary poverty estimates, based
                                     on the updated school district
                                     geographic framework collected in
                                     the 2020 SDRP, released.
April 2021........................  SDRP Verification Phase for 2021
                                     SDRP begins and ends.
August 2021.......................  Annotation Phase begins for the 2022
                                     SDRP.
December 2021.....................  Deadline to submit 2022 SDRP
                                     Annotation Phase updates to the
                                     Census Bureau.
                                    Preliminary poverty estimates, based
                                     on the updated school district
                                     geographic framework collected in
                                     the 2021 SDRP, released.
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III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0607-0987.
    Form Number: Not available at this time.
    Type of Review: Regular submission.
    Affected Public: Government officials for all 50 states and the 
District of Columbia.
    Estimated Number of Respondents:
    Annotation Phase: 51.
    Verification Phase: 51.
    Estimated Time per Response:
    Annotation Phase: 30 hours.
    Verification Phase: 10 hours.
    Estimated Burden Hours:
    Annotation Phase: 1,530 hours.
    Verification Phase: 510 hours.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 2,040 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0 (This is not the cost of 
respondents' time, but the indirect costs respondents may incur for 
such things as purchases of specialized software or hardware needed to 
report, or expenditures for accounting or records maintenance services 
required specifically by the collection.)
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Census Bureau Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. Section 16, 141, and 
193.
    NCES Legal Authority: Title I, Part A of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 
2015, Public Law (Pub. L.) 114-95.

IV. Request for Comments

    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden 
(including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information; 
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Summarization of comments submitted in response to this notice will 
be included in the request for OMB approval of this information 
collection. Comments will also become a matter of public record.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department Lead PRA Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2018-01847 Filed 1-30-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P