Virginia Beach City Public Schools will start counting all school-aged children this month.

Every three years, the Commonwealth of Virginia mandates that its school divisions conduct a census of children, ages five through 19, within their boundaries. A portion of state sales tax revenue is distributed to each school division based upon the number of children counted in the census.

All Virginia Beach residents will receive an initial mailing of a yellow 2008 Virginia School Census forms at their homes in mid-March. Residents will be asked to reply to the census by March 31.

If a census form is not received from an address by March 31, a second mailing will be necessary, which is an additional expense to taxpayers. If no response is received from the second mailing, census-takers will be deployed to homes in an effort to finalize the census count.

Virginia Beach residents should include in the count all children living in their residence, as well as those children who claim the residence as their home. These children may be in public or private schools; home-schooled; in college; in the military; in a group home; a correctional facility; or a hospital.

A complete and accurate census count benefits all citizens in our community. “Our children deserve the very best we can do in conducting a thorough and accurate count. We want to secure the education funding our residents are rightfully entitled to,” said Farrell Hanzaker, chief financial officer who is charged with overseeing this effort for the Virginia Beach school division.

“It is my hope that the citizens of Virginia Beach will respect the importance of the census and respond by returning their completed forms as soon as they come in the mail,” continued Hanzaker.

For FY 2007-08, Virginia Beach received more than $76 million from the state as the division’s portion of state sales tax, based on the last census count.

“In these tight budget times, every penny counts, and every census form counts, whether you have children or not – we need a response from every household. Additional mailings and home visits are costly. A complete count can be achieved easily with minimal effort from our residents, but only with their full cooperation can we do the very best for our children,” added Hanzaker.

The census period will conclude on July 15, 2008. In addition to the U.S. mail option, Virginia Beach citizens can save taxpayer dollars by completing the census form online through the school division’s Web site, vbschools.com.

Virginia Beach residents can expect more information as a regional media campaign gets under way this month. For further information about the 2008 Virginia School Census, please contact Fran Thomas, Census Coordinator, at 263-1163, or email census@vbschools.com.

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