The School District Review Progrram

School District Review Program (SDRP) Quick Start Respondent Guide: 2021
Initial Steps
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Confirm that contents from the U.S. Census Bureau (Census Bureau) SDRP packet include:
1) Welcome Letter.
2) Quick Start Guide.
3) Disc One – Geographic Update Partnership Software (GUPS).
4) Disc Two – SDRP Respondent Guide, SDRP Quick Start Guide, Shapefiles, Submission Log, and Listings.
Review the SDRP Respondent Guide before beginning any school district boundary work.
Gather information on any changes to a state’s school district boundaries effective on or before January 1, 2021.
Coordinate with school districts, state education officials, county planners, or state data centers to ensure school district
boundaries are the most up-to-date.
Review the Census Bureau’s TIGERweb Map Viewer, which displays school district boundary data, as of January 1, 2020, and
is accessible at: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/tigerweb/.

School District Boundary Review
1) Determine which counties have updates to their school district boundaries.
2) Compare the Census Bureau’s representation of the school district’s boundary with the local representation of the school
district’s boundary.
3) If there are no updates, please notify the Census Bureau’s SDRP team after receiving the SDRP packet. Otherwise, determine
which updates will be reported using the Submission Log or the GUPS.

Types of School District Boundary Updates
There are eleven types of school district updates accepted through the SDRP. The table below lists the types of accepted updates;
the recommended submission method; and where to find examples of each in the SDRP Respondent Guide.

Update Type

Submission Type

Page Number in Respondent Guide

Boundary Change

GUPS

Page 41

Complex Consolidation

GUPS

Page 55

Complex Dissolution

GUPS

Page 61

Grade Range Change

Submission Log

Page 20

Level Change

Submission Log

Page 22

Name Change

Submission Log

Page 19

New School District

GUPS

Page 67

Pseudo School District

Call Census Bureau

Page B-1

Simple Consolidation

Submission Log

Page 20

Simple Dissolution

Submission Log

Page 21

SDLEA Number ID change

Submission Log

Page 20

Below are detailed explanations for the types of updates that can be found in the SDRP:
 Boundary Change refers to the condition where a school district adds or removes area from the same school district level
or across school district levels.
 Complex Consolidation occurs when two or more school districts merge to create a new school district with a new name
and new Federal School District Local Education Agency (SDLEA) ID number, along with additional boundary changes.
Therefore, if the mapping coordinator delineates a complex consolidation, the Census Bureau expects accompanying
boundary changes for the new school district.
 Complex Dissolution refers to the situation where a single school district dissolves its area between two or more existing
school districts, with or without additional boundary changes. Complex dissolutions do not create new school districts, and
the names and SDLEA ID numbers of the receiving school districts remain unchanged.

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Grade Range Change occurs when a school district changes the grades it covers; for example, changing from covering 9-12
to 7-12.
Level Change occurs when a school district changes classification; for example, changing from elementary to unified.
Name Change is when a school district changes its name; for example, changing from Oak Union Unified School District to
Oak Union School District.
New School Districts are created by transferring area from one or more existing school districts to form a completely new
school district.
Pseudo School District refers to the condition where one school district pays for the educational services for a set of
grades in a different geographic area than its own.
Simple Consolidation occurs where two or more school districts merge to create a new school district with a new name
and new SDLEA ID number, with no additional boundary changes.
Simple Dissolution refers to the situation where one or more existing school districts are entirely absorbed by one other
existing school district. Simple dissolutions retain the name and SDLEA ID number of the receiving school district, and do
not create a new school district.
SDLEA Number ID Change is a correction to a previously incorrect SDLEA or replacing a temporary SDLEA ID number
(99***) with a permanent number.

How to Submit
The method used to report changes depends on the type of changes reported.
1) Submission Log
a. The submission log is a Microsoft Excel file used to report non-spatial and simple school district changes, and it is located
in the SDRP packet on Disc Two in the “SDRP_Respondent_Guides_Listings" folder and on the website found here
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b. Validate that attribution for all mandatory fields is accurate and complete.
c. Zip the submission log file before uploading to the Census Bureau through the Secure Web Incoming Module (SWIM).
d. For more information, see chapter 3 in the SDRP Respondent Guide.
2) Geographic Update Partnership Software (GUPS)
a. GUPS is a Census-customized Geographic Information System, and it is located on Disc One or via download from the
SDRP website located here .
b. Use GUPS to view and update school district geographies.
c. Complete all school district updates by county and check the work before exporting and submitting the file to the Census
Bureau.
d. For more information, see Chapter 4 of the SDRP Respondent Guide.

File Naming Conventions and Submission Prep
Name all return files using the file naming conventions outlined in the SDRP Respondent Guide.
 For the Submission Log – please ensure the zipped log file is named Submission_Log.zip.
 GUPS automatically labels the files during file export.

Return Updates Using the Census Bureau’s SWIM
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The Secure Web Incoming Module (SWIM) is the official web portal for submitting all SDRP response documentation and
updates to the Census Bureau’s Geography Division.
Detailed instructions for uploading SDRP response materials are on page 129 in the SDRP Respondent Guide.

SDRP Schedule and Deadlines
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September 2020– Mail out and review of SDRP packet to designated state school district mapping coordinators.
October 2020 – Census Bureau will provide SDRP Webinar to state school district mapping coordinators.
December 31, 2020 – Deadline for submitting school district changes during annotation phase.
April 2021 – Review of verification phase materials by designated state school district mapping coordinators.
December 2021 – Release of preliminary poverty estimates based on the updated school district geographic framework.

Contact Information
For questions, please contact the Census Bureau:
 E-mail:
 Phone: 301-763-1099
 SDRP Web site: