Loudoun County is one of the fastest growing counties in the commonwealth of Virginia. Every three years, a Loudoun County school census is conducted. "The census provides perspective," said Sam Adamo, director of planning and legislative services for Loudoun County Public Schools. "We see just how much growth has occurred over 10 and 20 years. The last 10 years have been fairly significant. The numbers have almost doubled between 1990 and 2000." The census reaffirmed the fact that Loudoun County is growing at a rapid rate — and one area is growing faster than the others.
THE DULLES DISTRICT has more than doubled its number of school-aged residents in three years. "Dulles is growing at a disproportionate rate since the last census," Adamo said. "This means big changes for Dulles, as a consequence of big housing developments." New schools will need to be built, in order to accommodate the area’s rapid growth.
Loudoun County opened five schools this year. However, there are no plans to build schools for next year. "We were supposed to build two elementary schools, but we had difficulty acquiring the land," Adamo said. "Now, we are building five elementary schools and one middle school in 2007."
BEV TATE, planning supervisor for Loudoun County Public Schools said it is required by law to conduct the surveys. "The residents are not required by law to participate, but it behooves everyone to respond. It gives us money that is ours," Tate said.
Loudoun residents are contacted four times, twice by mail and twice by enumerators. Still, 5,000 homes did not participate in the census.
"I just want to know what these 5,000 homes are costing us by not responding," said School Board member Bob Ohneiser (Broad Run), at the Tuesday, Sept. 13 meeting. "It is an opportunity to get free money from the state if people would take two minutes to fill it out."
The census impacts the community. "Over a three-year period, Loudoun County received just under $2,000 per student," Adamo said.
"The bottom line is, every kid we count is more money we get in return, which decreases the amount of local taxes it takes to support public education."