As the 1990 census counts people, the future of education might need to count on the census.

Reapportionment and redistricting within the House of Representatives because of the census could have a direct impact on education funding, according to an article in the March 28 issue of Education Week.

Efforts to equalize education spending within the states could be hampered by changes in the legislature, said John Myers, education-program director at the National Conference of State Legislatures in the article.

Myers said growth in wealthy suburbs could make it difficult to “put together the votes necessary to make school-finance formula changes.”

owever, some education observers said it is too early to tell if such effects could come true. Census results to the states are not due until April 1, 1991 then state and congressional districts will be redrawn for the 1992 elections.

Rep. John Countryman, R-DeKalb, said predicting reapportionment and its effects on educational funding would not be wise.

“That’s really too much of a crystal ball,” Countryman said. “Suburban areas may become greedy but it is entirely too early to tell.”

There are eight schools within DeKalb Community School District 428 with a total of about 3,600 students, said DeKalb School Superintendent John Deere.

Although these figures are less than those for DeKalb suburbs, the funding for DeKalb schools probably would not be affected by reapportionment because it is determined by the number of students within the district and not by the number of residents in the area, Deere said.

“I actually don’t think it (reapportionment) will impact us,” Deere said.

Deere said he expects the number of students in the district to remain stable or grow in the near future. “I think growth will definitely happen. Especially with Contel coming, we’ll be growing.”

The school district plans on conducting a demographics study “in the near future” to better determine the number of students that can be expected from growth in the area, Deere said.