Concerned that a potential undercount in the 2020 census could impact the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Board of Education voted unanimously on Oct. 2 to create a plan to help educate and encourage families to participate in the national population count.

An accurate count is needed to ensure that local families and students are represented in the nation’s democracy and that LAUSD receives its allocation of federal funding to serve schools and communities. The U.S. Census Bureau has warned of the difficulty in getting accurate counts of some groups of residents, such as immigrants, renters, children and teens, and those with limited English proficiency.

The plan will incorporate census outreach and education into existing programs and services and in multiple languages. Additionally, the 2020 census will be part of the campaign, “We Are One L.A. Unified: Standing with Immigrant Families.”

“L.A. Unified is committed to ensuring that all of our families understand the importance of participating in the 2020 census,” Superintendent Austin Beutner said. “We must educate and engage our families so that we receive our fair share of the federal funding we need to serve our students as well as the representatives to lead our communities and our nation.”

“The census is not only foundational to representative democracy but also critical to our District’s future,” added board Vice President Nick Melvoin, a co-sponsor of the measure. “The census count determines how much Title 1 funding we get for high-need schools and professional development, as well as how many representatives our communities will have fighting for them locally and nationally. That is why it’s imperative that everyone in our diverse community is counted – and that any attempts to undermine that count are vigorously challenged.”

For information, visit lausd.net.