"New homes are being constructed on the west side, and that's where the growth is occurring," in the district, which is about 68 percent white, down from 77 percent in 2000.

Michael Clara, former chairman of the Coalition of Minorities Advisory Committee to the Utah Board of Education, said the education office information "means that we are behind" in educating a diverse population of students.

Clara said the Hispanic growth is no surprise since several indicators — from membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the U.S. Census Bureau — are pointing to it. He noted that Ogden School District is now one of the state's "minority majority" districts and has a Hispanic enrollment of 43 percent.

"My hope is that at one point we can just drop the categories of ethnicity and just look at children, and be concerned about educating all children equally," Clara said. "We almost have to do that when ethnic minority students outnumber Caucasian kids."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com