80 FR 26892 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; School District Review Program

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 90 (May 11, 2015)

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, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 90 (Monday, May 11, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26892-26893]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-11261]


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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, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A)).

DATES: To ensure consideration, submit written comments, on or before 
July 10, 2015.

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 via the Internet 
at [email protected]).

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The mission of the Geography Division (GEO) within the Census 
Bureau is to plan, coordinate, and administer all geographic and 
cartographic activities needed to facilitate Census Bureau statistical 
programs throughout the United States and its territories. GEO manages 
programs that continuously update features, boundaries, addresses, and 
geographic entities in the Master Address File/Topologically Integrated 
Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) System. GEO, also, 
conducts research into geographic concepts, methods, and standards 
needed to facilitate Census Bureau data collection and dissemination 
programs.
    The Census Bureau is requesting a revision of a currently approved 
collection, to cover the annotation and verification phases of the 
2015-2016 School District Review Program (SDRP). The Census Bureau 
requests a two-year clearance and a project specific Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) Control Number for SDRP. GEO, in 
coordination with OMB, is removing select programs from the generic 
Geographic Partnership Programs (GPPs) clearance to individual project 
specific clearance packages. A project specific clearance for SDRP will 
allow the Census Bureau to provide enhanced detail and ensure the two-
year cycle is uninterrupted.
    The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) sponsors the 
SDRP, which enables the Census Bureau to create special tabulations of 
Decennial Census data by school district geography. The demographic 
data produced by the Census Bureau for the NCES and related to each 
school district 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. The NCES identifies a Title I 
Coordinator, and the Census Bureau works with the NCES on assigning a 
Mapping Coordinator in each state to work with the Census Bureau to 
implement this work. The respondents for the SDRP are the Title I 
Coordinators and Mapping Coordinators from the fifty states and the 
District of Columbia.

II. Method of Collection

    The SDRP invites respondent participation in two phases of the 
program: Annotation and Verification. As part of the 2015-2016 SDRP 
Annotation phase, the Mapping Coordinator in each state will receive a 
variety of materials from the Census Bureau to use in their review and 
update of school district boundaries, names, codes and geographic 
relationships. The Mapping Coordinators will use the Census Bureau's 
MAF/TIGER Partnership Software (MTPS) and Census supplied spatial data 
in digital shapefile format to identify boundary changes for their 
school districts. As part of the Verification phase of the SDRP, 
Mapping Coordinators will have the opportunity to either use the MTPS 
with Census Bureau supplied Verification shapefiles, or the Census 
Crowdsourcing Tool (CCT) to review and verify that their submitted 
information was correctly captured by the Census Bureau. If a 
respondent finds cases where the Census Bureau did not incorporate 
their proposed submissions correctly, the respondent can tag and 
comment the area of issue and that information will become available to 
the Census Bureau for corrections.
    The Census Bureau conducts the SDRP every two years under agreement 
from the NCES of the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The Census 
Bureau invites state education officials to participate in the review 
and update of its national inventory of school district boundaries and 
district information. State education officials collaborate with local 
superintendents on their responses. The participants review and provide 
updates and corrections to the elementary, secondary, and unified 
school district names and Federal Local Education Agency (LEA) 
identification numbers, school district boundaries, and the grade 
ranges for which a school district is financially responsible. The 
participants submit updated digital spatial files back to the Census 
Bureau.
    The Census Bureau uses the updated school district information 
along with

[[Page 26893]]

the most current Census population and income data, current population 
estimates, and tabulations of administrative records data, to form the 
Census Bureau's estimates of the number of children aged five through 
seventeen 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 funding allocation for 
each school district under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 
Public Law (Pub.L.) 107-110.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0607-XXXX.
    Form Number: Not available at this time.
    Type of Review: Regular submission.
    Affected Public: All fifty 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: 2040 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0.
    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.

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.

    Dated: May 5, 2015.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-11261 Filed 5-8-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P