Indiana NewsLocal News

Census question could impact local schools

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): A proposed change to U.S. Census forms could have a negative impact on area school districts.

At Monday night’s Fort Wayne Community Schools board meeting, member Steve Corona pointed out that a question about citizenship could lead to some opting not to take the census, and that would hurt the district’s bottom line.

The Journal Gazette reports that every student who goes uncounted can cause the district to lose about $1,000 a year. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments this week on whether the 2020 Census can ask people if they are legal U.S. citizens.

The Census Bureau says the question, if approved, would lead to about a 6% drop in responses, or around 45-million people. Opponents say the question is racially-motivated.

Related posts

Decision on charges against embattled priest could come soon

Darrin Wright

Ind. Education Board Meets for 1st Time Amid Clash

Kylie Havens

One Person Critically Injured in Crash Involving a School Bus and Car

WOWO News

4 comments

Buck June 25, 2019 at 9:15 am

Let’s see if I have this right. I, being a legal citizen of the United States, refuse to complete the census. I’m breaking the law. But the focus of this WOWO story is the amount of money schools could lose because non-citizens may not fill out the census because of the citizenship question? Sounds like WOWO doesn’t support having the question of citizenship a part of the census form. Why is that? Don’t you think we should do all that we can to get an accurate count of the population of non-citizens? The census is only one tool in this venture. Why do you support limiting that?

Reply
Jane June 26, 2019 at 12:45 am

Buck, I couldn’t agree with you more. Great question you ask.

Reply
Darrin Wright June 26, 2019 at 4:14 am

Buck, the story is not an indication of our support of anything. We’re reporting what the school district says may happen, not saying how you or anyone else should feel about the issue. You’re reading way too much into it.

Reply
Buck July 1, 2019 at 1:05 pm

Maybe Darrin. You only covered a few points that MAY negatively impact the money the area school districts can receive. If you’re okay with only looking at that one issue than I am reading too much into it. I believe it’s the responsibility of the Media to accurately and fairly cover other issues that may be impacted as well. Also, there may be some positive impacts to the citizenship question on the census form. I guess we’ll never know since it’s not important enough for WOWO to cover.

Reply

Leave a Comment