News
If You're Not Counted, You Just Don't Count

NEA is committed to an accurate Census count this year. At stake: funding for kids and schools and a political voice for all citizens.

California NEA member David Hernandez teaches second grade in San Jose's Alum Rock district, a heavily Hispanic, low-wealth community where federal funding makes a critical difference--be it for Title I reading and math instruction, school breakfast and lunch, Head Start, or state grants for child welfare services.

But U.S. population statistics, on which feds rely to channel program dollars to Alum Rock, just aren't accurate. Those stats, compiled during the 1990 federal Census, omit many of the people Hernandez sees with his own eyes each day: ethnic minorities, the urban poor, and children.

Nationally, Census takers missed 5.3 percent of Hispanics, 4.3 percent of African-Americans, and 12.2 percent of Native Americans on reservations.

The total 1990 Census undercount was an estimated 8.4 million, 52 percent of whom were children.

In San Jose alone, says the Children's Defense Fund, the 1990 Census missed 7,835 kids, who could have required 12 new schools and 326 teachers.

Hernandez knows that Census numbers don't just impact his class size. They determine allocation of $185 billion in federal funding a year to states and communities, plus apportionment of 435 congressional seats to states.

And as America's baseline statistics, the Census numbers drive social and business policy--in everything from enforcement of civil rights laws to the siting of new schools, highways, health and day care facilities, and shopping centers.

"We need our communities to focus on an accurate Census in 2000," stresses Hernandez. "It'll affect our education funding, political clout, and buying power for the next decade.

"Moreover, ethnic minority groups are growing in numbers and need to be counted," adds Hernandez, who is chair of the NEA Hispanic Caucus. "We want to ensure that we, and all ethnic groups, are represented appropriately in Census 2000 statistics."

That's now official NEA policy.

At NEA's 1999 Representative Assembly, Hernandez won the support of 9,200 delegates for the Hispanic Caucus's proposal to "involve our grassroots NEA membership in a fair and accurate Census count, especially in ethnic minority communities and among language minority groups."

The RA body also voted to urge NEA state and local affiliates to forge "partnership agreements" with the U.S. Census Bureau.

A national NEA/Bureau partnership agreement, already in place, encourages "affiliate and member participation in Census 2000 activities." Here's what you can do:

1. Encourage people in your community to fill out the seven-question census form. Be mindful that fear--of immigration laws, for example--keeps many from cooperating, even though the Census process is confidential.

   "Reach out to ethnic and minority communities through local associations and churches," Hernandez advises. "Target individuals and agencies who are recognized and have credibility, people who are listened to. Tell them about the undercount in the last Census and its negative effect."

   "Meet people where they are and just show them the Census form," adds Tracey-Ann M. Nelson, Georgia's director of Census Policy. "Tell them it asks for less info than an application for a driver's license or a loan.

   "And tap young people," she adds. "They have the best ideas for reaching other young people, who then can reach their parents."

   For more ideas, go to www.census.gov/dmd/www/partner.htm.

2. Participate in the Census Bureau's Census in the Schools program. Through the Bureau's free teaching materials, kids can learn the importance of the Census--and share that with parents.

   "My NEA local affiliate will encourage teachers to use this curriculum, in cooperation with the PTA," says Hernandez.

3. Apply for a full- or part-time job with the Census Bureau. The Bureau will hire 860,000 people, for $8 to $20 an hour, for tasks like verifying addresses and visiting homes to get Census forms completed.

   Bureau managers recognize the role teachers and support staff play.

   "We'd love to hire some educators," says Deputy Commerce Secretary Robert Mallett. "They know the communities, they're highly literate, and they get out of work at a time when they'd be most useful."

   For more information, go to the Census Web site at www.census.gov. For information about applying for Census jobs, call 1/888-325-7733.

Facts & Figures

The 1990 Census Undercount
Three Cities, Three Lost Opportunities

• San Antonio, Texas: 16,679 kids not counted. The price: 29 schools staffed by 1,042 teachers.
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: 8,650 kids not counted. The price: 21 schools staffed by 541 teachers.
• Portland, Oregon: 3,147 kids not counted. The price: 7 schools staffed by 161 teachers.

Source: Children's Defense Fund