Once again, overcrowded schools are in the news. Press releases from the federal government attribute the enrollment tidal wave to "the baby-boom echo" the children of the post-war baby boomers. The federal press releases are wrong. And that presents a problem, because if we do not know the real cause of school overcrowding, we are denied the chance to consider what might be the best solution.

Here's the first sign that the baby boomers' children are not causing the burgeoning student enrollment: After declining in the 1970s, U.S. enrollment bottomed out in the early 1980s and has continued to climb to its latest peak. But 90 percent of the enrollment increase for the entire nation between 1976 and 1995 occurred in just four states: California, Texas, Florida and Arizona. Do 90 percent of baby boomers live in these four states? Obviously not. Baby boomers are not the problem.

Other inconsistencies exist when we look at race and ethnicity. More than 95 percent of America's baby boomers are white or black. Yet, student enrollment of white and black students has fallen - not risen, according to Census data for the 1974 to 1994 period. Baby boomers are not the problem.

On the other hand, student enrollment of Hispanic and Asian students has soared by more than 4 million during that same 1974 to 1994 period. Obviously, that is the source of the nation's overcrowding. And these students' parents are not primarily baby boomers. This country has had Hispanic and Asian populations for generations. But about 75 percent of our current Hispanic and Asian residents are either immigrants or the children of immigrants. Baby boomers are not the problem.

Our nation's immigration policies are the problem. These policies are responsible for virtually all the increase in student enrollment and, thus, our overcrowding problem. Congress is the problem, responsible for virtually all the increase in student enrollment and, thus, our overcrowding problem. Congress is the problem.

Congress has quadrupled the flow of immigration above the traditional average that existed before the 1970s. Today's school overcrowding reveals one of the costly consequences. In 1983, foreign-born women accounted for 7 percent of the annual births in the United States, and by 1997, they accounted for 19 percent of all births. And that does not count the children who arrive as immigrants.

In some cities, schools are crowded with baby boomers' kids, but for the country as a whole, immigration has crowded our schools.

As a solution to future school overcrowding, reducing immigration numbers would cost close to nothing, compared with the billions of dollars required to build schools for the children of future immigrants. Census Bureau projections show that without future immigration, the under-18 population will remain stable for the next 50 years - 70 million children now and 72 million in 2050.

But if Congress continues the present mass immigration policies, projections are that the number of children will increase by 26 million to a total of 96 million in 2050. Unfortunately, Census population projections do not make the news, but federal government misinformation about baby-boomer crowding does. Americans need to know the facts because on our present course, our children face an abysmal future.

In his recent back-to-school press briefing, Secretary of Education Richard Riley exhorted us to build more schools and hire more teachers. Recent experience suggests we will not be able to build our way out of this immigration-driven enrollment problem. We do not have a shortage of classrooms or teachers; we have a longage of students.

But exciting news exists. Government-mandated crowding of schools is optional. The federal government can change the law to reduce immigration but only if Americans know the facts and put pressure on Congress to change our immigration policy. We can choose not to inflict school flooding on our children. We can turn off the water. Without government-mandated crowding, our nation can invest resources in the kids who live here now. It's the logical solution. It's the moral solution. Let us first shelter, clothe, feed and educate our own children - many of them immigrants. When our children have the resources they need, then we can think about inviting in the neighbors.

Thom is a retired government statistician and policy analyst in Santa Barbara, Calif. Send her an email to Lthom5929@aol.com.