Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 January 2004 — Page 3

FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 2004

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

PAGE A3

Black enrollment skyrockets in 5 suburban county school districts

Townhomes for Indv living River's Edge 925-2168

By AMOS BROWN III Recorder Correspondent Fueled by extraordinarygrowth in just five school districts, African-American school enrollment in the nine suburban counties of the Indianapolis metro area has reached an all time high. In the 2003/2004 school year, 1,821 African Americans are enrolled in school districts in those nine suburban counties. Black enrollment, in those counties, increased 26.1 percent or 377 students from last school year. The Indianapolis RecorderIs-~examination of school enrollment data byrace, found that a stunning 73 percent of thbse 1,821 Black suburban students attend school in one of five suburban districts - Hamilton Southeastern, Carmel/Clay, Avon, Brownsburg and Mt. Vernon. Hamilton Southeastern, centered in Fishers in Hamilton County, has the highest African-American enrollment of any suburban school district with 533. That’s up 24.5 percent, or 105 students, from last school year and up a stunning 197-8 percent from the 1999/2000 school year. Of the suburban school systems, Hamilton Southeastern has the highest percentage of African Americans, with 4.6 percent of the district’s 11,710 students being African-Ameri-can. Hamilton Southeastern’s has the ninth highest AfricanAmerican enrollment of any district in the 10 county Indianapolis metro. Just behind Hamilton

Located at 30th Street at White River Pkwy

Starting from the SSOO’s

DISTRICT

BLACK

HISPANIC

TOTAL

%BLK

%HISP

TOTAL METRO

52,054

10,253

266,857

19.5%

3.8%

TOTAL CITY/COUNTY

50,233

8,399

133,754

37.6%

6.3%

TOTAL SUBURBAN

1,821

1,854

133,093

1.4%

Hamilton Southeastern

533

241

11,710

4.6%

2.1%

Carmel/Clay

294

229

13,514

2.2%

1.7%

Avon

219

144

6,350

3.4%

2.3%

Brownsburg

151

5,899

2.6%

1.5%

Mt. Vernon

132

3,029

4.4%

1.1%

Southeastern in actual Black student growth, but well ahead in percentage terms, is the Avon Community Schools in Hendricks County. In one year, Avon’s Black enrollment nearly doubled, rising 103 students, or 90.4 percent to 219. African Americans now comprise 3.4 percent of Avon’s 6,350 total enrollment. Just four years ago, Avon’s schools had just 26 African Americans. But the growing migration of Black families into homes and apartments in the growing Indianapolis suburb west out Rockville Road has caused Avon’s Black enrollment to skyrocket 742 percent in foilr-years. African-American population growth out 56th Street west into Hendricks County and east into Hancock County has led to rapid increases in Black enrollments in two other school districts. In Hendricks County, the Brownsburg school district has seen its Black enrollment climb from 11 in 1999/2000 to 151 this school year, an increase of 1,273 percent. Brownsburg’s Black enrollment jumped 46 or 43.8 percent this year. Of the district’s

5,899 enrollment, 2.6 percent are African American. In Hancock County, Black enrollment has soared in the Mt. Vernon CommunitySchools. Four years ago, Mt. Vernon had just two Black students enrolled. Today, its Black enrollment is 132, up 83.3 percent, or 60 students in one year. Though a small district of 3,029 students, at 4.4 percent Mt. Vernon’s percentage of Black enrollment almost equals Hamilton Southeastern’s 4.6 percent. Compared to the other suburban districts, AfricanAmerican enrollment in the Carmel/Clay schools seems to have leveled off. Just 294 Blacks are enrolled in the district, a rise of 18.1 percent or 45 in the past year. While other districts have seen a large percentage of growth in Black enrollment the past four years, Carmel/Clay’s Black growth has been a modest 82.6 percent since 1999/ 2000. Of the five suburban districts with the largest Afri-can-American enrollments, Carmel/Clay has the lowest percentage of Black students at 2.2 percent. Despite the growing African-

Poll indicales jobs, educalion and heallh lop Black concerns

By HAZEL TRICE EDNEY

NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) -

Jobs, educational equity and quality health care top the list of issues that Black voters say they must hear about from presidential candidates before making their decisions for the 2004 election, accord-

ing to a new survey.

“Consistent with the selection of the most critical issues facing their community and those that have ‘gotten worse,’ in their communities, the top three issues they want the presidential candidates to address are jobs, educational equity and health services,’’ concludes a study conducted by New Orleans pollster Silas Lee and Associates. “These data reflect the deterioration in the essential quality of life indicators for African Americans and the further erosion of the potential for upward mobility for many African-

American citizens.”

According to the survey results, taken from interviews with 570 African Americans who attended the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Weekend last September, 70 percent of those surveyed said joblessness had gotten worse, 67 percent said the quality of public education had taken a similar turn and 67 percent said the availability of quality health care has also worsened. Close behind, 61 percent siJfcsJ^he availability of affordable housing had gotten worse, and 59 percent said there was an erosion

of civil liberties.

In that exact order, those are the issues that voters said are the most critical in the Black community and the ones they wanted addressed by presidential candidates. The survey was conducted for the National Coalition for

Black Civic Participation, a non-profit working to improve Black voter turnout removing all remaining barriers to civic participation. The coalition of 130 organizations announced recently that it is leading a Unity ’04 Civic Engagement and Voter Empowerment Campaign, a non-par-tisan initiative leveraging the resources of all of its members to get out the Black vote in the November election. “For us, this is about having a better framework on the kind of voter education activities and the types of messages we need to utilize to motivate people to get involved because the political process affects their lives,” says Melanie Campbell, NCBCP executive director and CEO. “We share the information with the public, both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, and members of our organization. We share that information with our inembers so the people will understand the kinds of concerns and the issues that are important to our

community.”

The Black vote, 90 percent ofwhich supported the Democratic Party in the 2000 presidential race, will be key in the 2004 election. Trying to capitalizing on recurring complaints that Democrats take the Black vote for granted, GOP Chairman Ed Gillespie has said his party’s outreach to Black voters is a top priority for 2004, especially among college students and younger voters age 18-35, who may not identify with either major po-

litical party.

Leslie B. McLemore, professor of political science at Jackson State University in Mississippi., says the GOP faces an uphill battle. “The Republican Party is going to have to build up some

credibility in the Black community and quite frankly, most Republicans don’t have credibility in the Black community,” says McLemore. “They have not had a consistent policy dealing with the African-American community, so this is a kind of hit and miss operation." Campbell says the Unity ’04 campaign goal is to increase the Black vote to at least 5 percent higher than the 53.5 percent of the turnout in 2000. According to the NCBCP, the Black vote has not been at 58.5 percent since 1964, the year that Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which expanded the federal government's role in protecting the rights of Blacks and other people of color. The nine Democratic presidential candidates have participated in a string of debates, but have largely focused on foreign affairs, such as the war. Campbell says Unity ’04 will hold issue forums, town hall meetings and candidate debates with specific focus on issues that Black voters want

to hear. ’

American enrollment in suburban schools, nearly all African Americans enrolled in public schools in the Indianapolis metro attend public schools within Marion County. According to the Recorder’s analysis of the official enrollment data from the Indiana Department of Education, 52,054 African Americans and 10,253 Hispanics are enrolled in public schools throughout the metro area. The total enrolled in public schools in the metro is 266,857. African-Americans comprise 19.5 percent and Hispanics 3.8 percent ofthe metro's public school students. Among Indianapolis/Marion County’s public schools, 37-6 percent of students enrolled are African American; 6.3 percent Hispanic. Literally half, (50.1 percent) of the metro’s public school students live in Indianapolis and 49.9 percent live in the suburbs. However 96.5 percent of Afri-can-American students in metro public schools and 81.9 percent of Hispanics attend Indianapolis city/county schools. Policies ■ We reserve the right to edit, properly classify, cancel or decline any ad. ■ We will not knowingly accept advertising that discriminates on the basis of sex, age, religion, race, national origin or physical disability. ■ Advertising of $100 or less per issue to be paid in advance. ■ Other advertising will be subject to credit approval. ■ Standard payment terms-Net 10 days. Deadlines Ad Type: Deadline: All Advertising 4:30 p.m. Friday, week (except religious) before issue date Religious Noon Monday, week of issue

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