Posted on: Monday, April 7, 2003

EDITORIAL
New Census tool will help all of us

Purists might argue that the once-a-decade governmental nose-counting known as the U.S. Census should keep to the basics: Find out how many of us there are and where we live. That's all the government needs to accomplish the basic task that spurs the census: reapportionment of political district lines.

But over the years, the Census has become a far more sophisticated and useful tool. It provides a wealth of information crucial to public policy, to programs ranging from education to welfare and in understanding who we are as Americans.

Census Director Louis Kincannon was in Hawai'i last week to talk about changes coming to the Census and some new data of interest to Islanders.

The big change is the development of something called the American Community Survey, which is designed to replace the traditional detailed "long form" that selected households received every decennial census. This survey would be conducted on an ongoing basis and would provide detailed, evolving information about trends for the public and government.

For instance, a recent peek at Hawai'i suggests that the number of households where other than English is spoken has jumped over the past year or two. It also captures the fact that we are "aging" at a faster rate than before, perhaps because the economic "brain drain" is leaving a relatively larger proportion of older folks behind.

The policy implications of just these two facts are obvious: Fewer English-speaking families has a direct impact on our schools. An aging population means more folks clamoring for medical and care services and fewer taxpaying folks available to pay for them.

The best way to deal with these and other emerging trends is to have the sharpest, most immediate and more current information available.

That's where the American Community Survey comes in. If you are contacted, cooperate. It is in your own best interest.