Compliance with New Federal Regulations to Collect Ethnic and Race Data from all Staff and Students

In order to comply with new federal regulations, Hillsborough County Public Schools will soon begin to collect ethnic and race data from all staff and students under newly defined categories.

All staff and students are currently self-identified as belonging to one racial category from among: A (Asian), B (Black), H (Hispanic), I (American Indian), M (Multiracial), and W (White).

The new federal rules require that each person respond to two questions:

1. Are you of Hispanic/Latino descent? (Y/N)
2. Identify your race (choose all that apply): American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, or White.

The two most significant changes required by the federal government are: the designation of Hispanic/Latino origin as an ethnicity rather than a race, and the ability of a person to identify him/herself as belonging to more than one specific race (as opposed to the less specific "multiracial" category now used).

These data must be available in both the old and new format during the 2009-10 school year. In 2010-11 and thereafter, only the new categories will be used.

Student data collection is scheduled for the week of March 23 and will be preceded by a ParentLink message over the weekend. Each student will take the form (sample attached) home and return it to the school. Students whose home language is identified as Spanish will receive both an English and Spanish version. Employee collection will begin in April. All student data must be available to the state beginning with FTE Survey Period 1 (July); staff data must be available by Survey 2 (October). The most recent technical assistance paper issued by the Florida Department of Education is included as an attachment.

* Promote a culture of safety, which is free from harassment, bullying, and aggression

The cost of changes to the student database, printing, distributing, and collecting the data is approximately $13,000 to $15,000; the total cost will vary based upon the return rate of the original survey. The changes will be funded by the Information Services budget.

All records must comply by the October FTE survey.