School District Boundary Request from DE

We have been asked if the maps developed through the AEAs for census purposes meet the requirements of the recent mapping request from the Department of Education. The short answer is no; the census maps are based on different criteria. For a more detailed explanation, please see the note below. In the event the census maps are helpful, this link to the maps is included for your use.

Note from Jodi Flory, SDRP Coordinator:

To clarify, we need "legal boundaries" - a GIS/CAD layer (or map) that most closely defines the actual district boundary being used by the district. The director districts that are submitted to the Sec. of State are different in that they are forced to use Census Block boundaries to define the district boundary in order to tabulate population to comply with the constitutional One person:One vote rule. Census block geographies do not align properly with the geographic basis of school districts in most cases. The SDRP effort we are working on actually works to effectively adjust Census Block boundaries to the true school district geography. Thus, maps based solely from Census geographies are not suitable for this effort. If no legal district boundary exists for a school district, our next best data source for district boundaries is the county assessor, with school districts being a taxing base.

If a district has a legal boundary that has been digitized into a map (GIS/CAD), that is the best/preferred source. If that is not available, we would like a copy of the legal description so we can have a record of that, and if time permits, we will digitize ourselves. If no legal exists, we will attempt to gather a parcel-based district layer from the county.

If you have any questions, contact Jodi Flory, SDRP Coordinator, at (970) 409-9238.