President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda is providing unprecedented resources for K-12 schools to invest in healthier, more sustainable buildings and infrastructure—from removing lead pipes, to installing clean, reliable solar Energy, to purchasing electric school buses. Schools across the country are putting these funds to use to cut harmful air pollution, including climate pollution, and invest in equitable, healthy, resilient, and sustainable schools. To ensure that schools have access to the many resources and technical assistance available to them through the President’s Investing in America agenda, the Administration is today hosting the first-ever White House Summit for Sustainable and Healthy K-12 School Buildings and Grounds.

-- Staff Writer

FITCHBURG, Wis. (WKOW) -- The first net-zero school in the state is closing in on its fourth year of carbon neutral education. 
Forest Edge Elementary is the first net-zero school in Wisconsin, meaning it creates more Energy than it uses. 
"Everything in the building works on electricity. So, we can very easily see that we make more power than we use by just looking at our Energy bills," the school's business manager, Andy Weiland, said.
The school has 1,704 solar panels across the roof for electricity and 99 geothermal wells 400 feet below the school collecting water for heating and cooling. 
"By using that kind of temperate water from the ground, we can condition spaces very easily," Weiland said. 
Sustainability is built into the school's literal foundation, their classes as well. 
 

-- Grace Ulch

Near the state capital of Harrisburg lies the town of Steelton, Pennsylvania, the home of America’s first steel company and the birthplace of an industry that has long relied upon burning fossil fuels. Down the street from the 150-year-old steel mill is the campus of Steelton-Highspire School District (SHSD), which is forging ahead as one of the first Pennsylvania school districts to power its buildings and its buses with onsite renewable Energy. The school district found its way to renewable Energy out of financial necessity. Steelton-Highspire School District (SHSD) sought creative solutions to overcome its annual budget gap of $10 million per year and provide the best educational experience for its diverse and predominantly low-income population of less than 1,500 students. SHSD found that Energy efficiency and solar Energy could provide significant operational cost savings to help the district balance its budget. The district’s 1.7 MW solar array powers 100% of the district’s electricity needs and is expected to provide $4 million in Energy savings over the next two decades.

-- Jamie Wertz

Schools are invited to watch the White House’s first-ever Summit for Sustainable and Healthy K-12 Infrastructure on April 26th, highlighting the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to providing communities equitable access to Energy efficient, climate resilient, and healthy school facilities that are conducive to learning. This summit will highlight the pressing need for sustainable 21st-century school infrastructure and the impact that facility conditions have on student and teacher health and learning outcomes. The event will also provide deeper insight into the tools and existing commitments offered by the federal government to invest in school sustainability and infrastructure. Students, educators, administrators, parents, and other school stakeholders are invited to tune in to the opening plenary and panels on April 26th from 1 – 3:30 p.m. ET.

-- Staff Writer

Along I-90 between Bozeman and Billings, a field of solar panels borders the interstate under the backdrop of the Crazy Mountains. Those panels help power Sweet Grass County High School for its 160 students. “Here's our solar panels. They’re next to the interstate. It's a 50 kilowatt ground-mount system,” says Sam Spector. Spector is the school facilities manager. He started doing Energy upgrades almost a decade ago like retrofitting lights in the gym, optimizing heating and ventilation systems and he oversaw the solar panel installation in 2020. “That solar array right now is producing 25% of our consumption needs.” Spector says the school consumes the same amount of Energy as around 45 houses, so it’s a big utility bill. Inside the school, he walked through the hallways, pointing out LED bulbs that reduce lighting Energy use by 90%, and a timer knob that automatically turns off the exhaust hood in a cooking class.

-- Ellis Juhlin

VICTORIA – The Government of British Columbia is putting $291.9 million towards school maintenance projects as part of its 2024 budget.
To reduce emissions and improve Energy efficiency, the provincial Ministry of Education and Childcare is providing up to $26.8 million in Energy and electrical upgrades across 51 school districts through the Carbon Neutral Capital Program including upgrades of heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.
The province is increasing the Annual Facility Grant by an additional $3.1 million for routine repairs throughout the year and $150.2 million is also available to districts to address maintenance needs, as well as other improvements, such as replacing playground equipment or enhancing traffic safety, a release said.
Other school spending in the budget includes $5 million annually through the Feeding Futures program to “create, improve or expand infrastructure through projects, such as food-delivery vans and kitchen upgrades, including electrical upgrades and the purchase of commercial-kitchen equipment,” the release said, as well as $23.8 million to purchase school buses, of which $9 million has been allocated for the purchase of electric school buses.
 

-- Staff Writer

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis Public Schools is getting some national recognition. IPS announced Thursday that 17 of their school buildings have earned the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy STAR Certification. That’s up from their 10 Energy-efficient school buildings in 2023. To earn the Energy STAR Certification, buildings must rank in the top 25% nationwide for Energy efficiency and meet ventilation standards. According to a news release, the school says “the cost of utilities is the second largest budget line-item for the district, and the prices for electricity, natural gas, heating oil, and water have been steadily increasing.” To combat the rising prices, IPS partnered with Energy consultant Cenergistic to implement conservation programs in the district’s buildings. Energy specialists have also been tracking IPS Energy consumption at all campuses through state-of-the-art technology to identify and correct areas where Energy may be overused. During a presentation to the IPS Board of School Commissioners, William Murphy, the district’s chief operations officer, said that since partnering with Cenergistic on a comprehensive Energy conservation program in 2018, IPS has saved $22,860,552.

-- Brittany Noble

Geothermal heating and cooling is emerging as a go-to technology for St. Paul Public Schools as it seeks to renovate aging facilities in line with the district’s climate action plan. Minnesota’s second-largest school district is also one of the city’s largest property owners, with 73 buildings containing more than 7.7 million square feet. Its climate action plan calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at least 45% by 2030. New technology and federal incentives have helped convince district leaders that geothermal is among its best options for slashing emissions from school buildings. The Energy efficient systems pump refrigerant through a closed loop circuit of pipes that moves heat between buildings and below ground reservoirs.   Last year, the district completed a ground-source geothermal system while renovating the 1960s-era Johnson High School. This year, it’s installing a different type of system at two other schools that tap aquifers rather than the ground as a heating and cooling source.

-- Frank Jossi

WASHINGTON D.C. – As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, today the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) opened applications for the 2024 Renew America's Schools Prize, which will award $180 million to districts across the country engaging in strategic partnerships to build capacity and implement Energy upgrades at K-12 schools, lowering Energy use and costs, improving indoor air quality, and fostering healthier learning environments. The 2024 Renew America’s Schools Prize, funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, represents a groundbreaking investment in Energy-efficient and renewable Energy infrastructure at underserved K-12 public schools and contributes toward the Administration’s broader Action Plan for Building Better School Infrastructure. 

-- Staff Writer

The Madison Metropolitan School District’s sustainability goal may be “almost impossible” to achieve, the district’s finance administrator says.
At the urging of students and community members, the district adopted in 2019 a nonbinding resolution to use 100% renewable Energy by 2040. The Madison School Board is now weighing whether to revise that goal because of the cost and complexity of the work involved. 
To meet the 2040 target, it would cost an estimated $1 billion to upgrade the district’s buildings from natural gas to electric heating systems, according to Bob Soldner, the district’s assistant superintendent for financial services. And it would mean temporarily closing nine schools each year between 2026 and 2030 for renovations. 
“We do not have the capacity to shut down that many schools,” Soldner told the School Board in a meeting this month. “It's hard for me to fathom how we can accomplish (this), given where we are at today.” 
The board has considered changing its resolution since 2022, and students at the time pushed the board to stick to its plan. But the board will now need to decide by next month whether to revise or keep the original goal as it drafts next year’s budget. 
The original resolution calls for the district to be at 50% renewable Energy by 2030, 75% by 2035 and 100% by 2040. The group Renew Madison pushed for the resolution in the months leading up to its adoption, and campaign organizers said at the time that MMSD was the largest school district in the country to make such a pledge.
 

-- Kayla Huynh

In the last 10 years, Pennsylvania K-12 schools have nearly tripled the amount of solar installed, according to a new statewide report on schools’ solar uptake published by Generation180, a clean Energy nonprofit. The solar capacity installed at statewide schools over the past 10 years grew from 14 MW to approximately 39 MW. The new report, “Powering a Brighter Future in Pennsylvania, Second Edition,” examines the state of solar at K-12 schools, including how schools are funding it, and local success stories. While a growing number of schools have seen the benefits of solar adoption, less than 2% of Pennsylvania’s 6,000 K-12 schools produce their own solar power, leaving a lot of potential for growth. “All schools and communities in Pennsylvania — regardless of their size, geography or wealth — should have access to clean and affordable power,” said Shannon Crooker, Generation180’s Pennsylvania State Director. “We are helping schools across the state gain the cost-saving and educational benefits from generating their own clean power.” Generation180 provides free technical assistance to schools interested in exploring how solar Energy would benefit them.

-- Kelly Pickerel

Decatur, GA — The City Schools of Decatur School Board will meet on Tuesday, March 12, at 5 p.m. for a regular meeting. The meeting will be held in person at the Wilson School Support Center, 125 Electric Ave., and virtually via Zoom. During the work session, Chief Operating Officer Sergio Perez will present the state of operations report to looks at the district’s facilities and maintenance needs. “It emphasizes the crucial role of the Operations Division in maintaining the district’s functionality and normal operations,” the agenda packet states. “Despite facing challenges such as rising material and Energy costs, extended lead times for equipment, and increased vendor labor costs, the division ensures smooth operations in areas like lighting, HVAC, utilities, meals, transportation, medical services, and safety and security.” “The report discusses the life cycle of assets, highlighting the continuous process from creation to use, maintenance, and disposal,” the agenda says. “It notes that the average age of [the] buildings is 78.3 years and focuses on addressing aging HVAC equipment to prevent disruptions in heating or cooling.”

-- Zoe Seiler

Like many large buildings, schools suck lots of Energy from the grid to keep lights on, halls warm and students comfortable, translating to high bills for school districts. However, a case study using a school in Quebec aims to challenge that status quo. Researchers from Concordia University studied a school that runs off electricity sourced from geothermal heat pumps that rely on Energy from Quebec’s grid, which is almost all hydropower. They found that schools heated with electricity can use less Energy and still keep students warm if they understand and adapt to the Energy needs of each building. Researchers analyzed data from existing sensors in the school. Then, they combined it with weather predictions for the next day and other information to reduce power use at peak demand times when Energy is most expensive. They tested the system in a few classrooms, where they reduced peak power consumption by up to 100 per cent. Their scenario found the school’s Energy bill could be cut by up to 50 per cent if their approach was adopted school-wide because of cost savings from reduced power use during peak times.

-- Cloe Logan

Morgan County Schools is still counting their savings from a countywide guaranteed Energy management project with CMTA Energy Solutions. The project was implemented from  June 2017 through October 2018 under former School Superintendent David Banks. At the February 20 school board meeting, CMTA project manager and engineer Tom Nicolas reviewed the Energy management work that was done throughout Morgan County Schools facilities in his annual measurement and verification services review. His presentation included the year-five savings results, along with the total cost savings for the school system over the past five years which was more than $1 million.

-- Kate Evans

The Madison School Board on Monday discussed its plan to transition the school district to 100% renewable Energy by 2040 — a goal that will likely require revisions given the scale of the proposed changes.
The necessary updates to district buildings, which would focus on electrifying heating systems, will cost around $1 billion. These upgrades would be made alongside other building renovations.
Most of this money would be generated through regular referendums, which could potentially begin as soon as November 2024 and last through 2044, according to board materials. Other money would come from fundraising or federal grants, according to Bob Soldner, the district’s assistant superintendent for financial services.
“I think it’s fair to say the majority of these funds are going to need to be approved by voters, but there could clearly be other fundraising to supplement what voters would approve,” Soldner told the Wisconsin State Journal Monday.
 

-- Abbey Machtig

KATY, TX (Covering Katy News) – The Katy Independent School District was awarded $391,502 this year as part of the CenterPoint Energy SCORE (Schools Conserving Resources and Energy) Program for its Energy-saving efforts throughout the district. This figure represents a substantial increase of nearly $140,000 compared to the amount received at the same time last year. With the opening of each new school, renovations to existing campuses, incorporating new Building Automation Systems, and replacing essential components such as HVAC systems, lighting, chillers, and boilers, these decisions and enhancements have proven cost-effective and Energy-efficient. “We take immense pride in the great strides we have been able to make to reduce Energy consumption district-wide,” said Ted Vierling, Chief Operations Officer at Katy ISD. “The Energy-saving practices implemented across our schools and facilities are a testament to Katy ISD’s responsible stewardship of taxpayer funds. As part of our ongoing effort, we will continue to pursue Energy Star Certifications for all our schools."

-- Staff Writer

School districts can now access uncapped, noncompetitive and unlimited direct payment in lieu of federal tax credits to finance clean Energy initiatives like solar panels, ground source heat pumps and electric buses.  These investments can result in reduced costs and air pollution and provide resilient infrastructure, said those supportive of the new initiative.  Known as the ”direct pay″ provision in the Inflation Reduction Act, the program allows tax-exempt entities like schools to receive tax-free cash payment for qualifying projects for the tax year their clean Energy initiatives were put into service. This funding can be combined with other revenue sources, such as grants and utility rebates, and covers projects that began service after Jan. 1, 2023.

-- Kara Arundel

School buildings that experience natural disasters are now eligible for federal funding to install solar panels and other Energy-efficient systems when they rebuild, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Tuesday. Through the FEMA Public Assistance program, the federal government commits to covering 75 percent of the cost of rebuilding schools and other public institutions like hospitals following floods, tornadoes, and other storms. With the new policy, schools can now include in their reimbursement requests the cost of solar panels, geothermal heat pumps, and other modern systems designed to improve sustainability. Schools can take advantage of this funding opportunity for any disaster declared after Aug. 16, 2022, the agency said in a press release. The goals of the policy, according to the agency, include offering incentives for schools to help with the nationwide effort to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Schools and other facilities that install Energy-producing systems can stay open and even provide power to surrounding communities in the event of an electrical outage, said Tish Tablan, senior program director at Generation180, an advocacy nonprofit that promotes clean Energy adoption.

-- Mark Lieberman

Air quality is an environmental concern 15-year-old Adalayde Scott has been passionate about for most of her life — it’s personal for her.
The Skyline High School sophomore has seen her three younger brothers, who’ve dealt with lung problems since birth, struggle on bad air quality days. She said her youngest brother, a preschooler, has been hospitalized several times and sent home with oxygen.
“It’s really sad to see someone that you love being impacted,” Adalayde said. “And it’s especially difficult knowing that we live in an area that doesn’t even experience the worst air pollution in the valley.”
That’s one reason why Scott joined four other Granite School District students last year to campaign, with help from the Sierra Club’s Utah chapter, for a clear commitment from the district: to operate on 100% clean electricity by 2030, and all other Energy sectors by 2040.
That could mean operating on solar and wind power, and stepping away from natural gas for building heat and cafeteria cooking, said former Granite student Ava Curtis, who is now a sophomore at the University of Utah and helps with the Granite Clean Energy Campaign. It also means replacing fuel-reliant school buses with electric ones.
 

-- Michael Lee

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced $100 million is now available through the Clean Green Schools Initiative under the historic $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act. The initiative will allow for the advancement of construction projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help public schools improve environmental sustainability and decarbonize school buildings. Today’s announcement supports the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act requirements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 85 percent by 2050 and ensure at least 35 percent, with a goal of 40 percent, of the benefits from clean Energy investments be directed to disadvantaged communities. “Creating a safe and healthy learning environment is critical to providing our children the best education possible,” Governor Hochul said. “These investments will make our school facilities cleaner and more sustainable – and will have a tremendous positive effect on future generations of students.”

-- Staff Writer

Unit 5 is gaining recognition for an initiative to make most of its buildings leaders in Energy efficiency — a move that's resulted in significant cost savings. At its monthly meeting on Wednesday, the school board heard from operations manager Tom Rockwell about the milestone: McLean County's largest school district is home to more than half of Illinois K-12 schools awarded the Energy Star rating in 2023. To earn the rating, a building must meet strict Energy performance standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency. About half of the Unit 5 certifications resulted from Energy projects that Rockwell said spared the district about $4.3 million in Energy costs. Another $1 million came in the form of utility incentives, he said. Board member Jeremy DeHaai was quick to applaud the Unit 5 operations team.

-- Michele Steinbacher

 The Lakeside Union School District encourages the community to join in on the celebration as it “flips the switch” on its districtwide comprehensive Energy Infrastructure Modernization Program, encompassing Energy efficiency improvements and new solar structures. Marking a major milestone in the program and especially ringing in the new year, the event will take place at the District Office on Jan. 18 at 3 p.m. “We’re incredibly proud to share this accomplishment with the entire Lakeside community,” said Board President Andrew Hayes. “This program ushers in a new era of Energy resilience for our district. It will provide long-lasting benefits for our students and staff in the classroom and save general fund costs significantly, ensuring a secure future for the entire district.” Launched in 2021, the program is a comprehensive effort to modernize antiquated infrastructure in the areas of HVAC, roofing, lighting, and other efficiency improvements while converting to renewable Energy sources. The program allows the district to leverage various grants, incentives, and other one-time funding from state and federal programs to alleviate capital budget pressure and meet state Energy mandates. 

-- Debbie L. Sklar

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, K-12 school districts spend nearly $8 billion annually on Energy costs, the second largest expense after teacher salaries. Aging facilities combined with limited school budgets can result in deferred maintenance of facilities, with current estimates of around $270 billion needed for infrastructure repairs. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a grant program funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) focused on Energy improvements at public school facilities, especially in the highest-need districts, and designed to save schools money. Similarly, the White House released a toolkit on federal resources for addressing school infrastructure needs in April 2022. And today, the Department of Education is announcing its grantees under the Supporting America's School Infrastructure grant program, which bolsters the capacity of States to support school districts in improving school facilities with the goal of more equitable access to healthy, sustainable, and modern learning environments for all students.

The Maryland Energy Administration on Wednesday unveiled an ambitious plan to help K-12 public schools across the state reduce and eliminate carbon emissions. The Decarbonizing Public Schools Program will provide capital to help local education agencies more fully incorporate a wide range of clean Energy and Energy efficiency measures into Maryland’s public schools.
The program provides incentives for a comprehensive suite of grants focused on capacity building, infrastructure upgrades, renewable Energy adoption and the use of new, sustainable construction methods. Notably, the Decarbonizing Public Schools Program will expand statewide construction and access to net zero Energy schools – school buildings that create and save as much renewable Energy as they use.
Under a precursor to this program, Maryland built and opened its first three net zero Energy schools. The first was Wilde Lake Middle School in Howard County, followed by Holabird Academy and the Graceland Park/O’Donnell Heights Elementary/Middle School, both in Baltimore City. This new initiative will help local education agencies retrofit, design and construct state-of-the-art, net zero Energy campuses that produce enough on-location renewable Energy to meet their total annual electricity demands.

-- Staff Writer

Bipartisan legislation that proposes the installation of solar panels in schools across Pennsylvania awaits a vote in the state Senate. The Solar for Schools bill aims to combat climate change and invest in education. Fewer than 2% of Pennsylvania’s nearly 7,000 schools are powered by solar Energy. Mick Iskric is superintendent of Steelton-Highspire School District, which has a 42-acre urban school campus that serves more than 1,300 students from low-income families. He explained that, after partnering with McClure Company to install solar panels, the district now sees a monthly credit on its electric bill. Iskric is convinced the legislation would be a game-changer for school districts in the Commonwealth. “And then ultimately, all that savings, what we’re trying to do is get more funding to offset our expenses and get more programming for students,” Iskric said. “So, the more money I save, the more support I can get directly into the classroom.” According to Iskric, the district has achieved 100% reliance on solar power for its electricity and will save an estimated $1.6 million over the next 20 years.

-- Danielle Smith

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — An entire county school system in coal-producing West Virginia is going solar, representing what a developer and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s office touted on Wednesday as the biggest-ever single demonstration of sun-powered renewable electricity in Appalachian public schools. The agreement between Wayne County Schools and West Virginian solar installer and developer Solar Holler builds on historic investments in coal communities made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democratic Sen. Manchin had a major role in shaping as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Manchin, who announced this month that he wouldn’t run for reelection in the deep-red state, citing an increasingly polarized political system, was quick Wednesday to tout U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2022 landmark climate, health and tax law, which placed special emphasis on creating new clean Energy jobs. “Let’s be clear — this investment in Wayne County is a direct result of the Inflation Reduction Act,” he said in a written statement. “This type of investment in rural America to create jobs, make our country more Energy secure and lower electric costs is exactly what the IRA was designed to do.”

-- Leah Willingham

All 4,000 schools across the country are to have solar panels installed to reduce Energy costs and their carbon footprint, Education Minister Norma Foley has announced. Schools in some counties have been invited to participate in the first phase of the Solar for Schools Scheme, to be funded by the Government’s Climate Action Fund. The first phase will open for applications on November 30 while it is intended that all eligible schools across the country will have the opportunity to apply to the scheme by the end of 2024. The scheme aims to assist schools in reducing their Energy costs and their carbon footprint as part of the response to meeting the 2030 and 2050 Climate Action Plan targets for the school sector.

-- Jack White

The Huntingdon Area School District is launching a multi-million-dollar Energy efficiency and cost reduction project.
School board members took several major steps to put the work into motion at their monthly meeting Monday, including approving an almost $10 million bond issue to pay for the Energy service company (ESCO) contract.
Representatives of the school district’s bond counsel and financial advisers and consultants spoke to school directors before they voted to take on the huge debt.
Melissa Hughes of PFM Financial Advisors reviewed the school district’s existing debt portfolio and reports showing how much impact debt services have on the HASD budget.
She said her firm’s projections showed a relatively level debt service when the amount needed to finance the ESCO project is included.
Chris Hoffert of Stifel, a brokerage and investment banking firm, also provided a market update before directors made their final decision.
“Long-term interest rates are favorable right now with recent steady improvement,” Hoffert reported.
He noted over the past three weeks rates have come down slightly, and that’s great news for the school district to lock in interest rates on the bonds in early December.
“There’s a lot less volatility than even a month ago. Things are looking good and we’re optimistic we can get the best rates for you that we possibly can,” Hoffert said.
 

-- JOE THOMPSON

A vacant field right next to the current Deer Park Elementary School in Baltimore County will transform into Maryland’s first net-zero elementary school by 2025. County and state leaders joined Deer Park students and staff to break ground on the $70.6-million-dollar project on Monday morning, wearing white and yellow construction hats to mark the occasion. Superintendent Myriam Rogers said the new school will serve as a leading example for state environmental efforts, by producing and saving as much – or more – Energy than it uses each year. “You will see solar paneling on the roof, geothermal heating in the boiler room, smart technology that monitors when lights are on and off and when electric plugs can be used,” Rogers said. “I’m especially interested in seeing the school's light tubes, which will be used to import natural sunlight to use in classrooms instead of artificial lighting.” Three other net-zero schools exist in Maryland. Two serve kindergarten through eighth grade students in Baltimore City. Wilde Lake Middle School in Howard County became the first net-zero school constructed in the state in 2017. The new Deer Park school will also alleviate enrollment pressures in a rapidly-growing community, Rogers said.

-- Bri Hatch

PUYALLUP, Wash. — The Puyallup School District is one of many school districts across the state preparing to meet the requirements of the Washington state's Clean Buildings Act. 
The district said the requirements accelerate the need for work already being pursued, but there are some challenges in regards to funding. The district is hopeful voters will support its efforts. 
Meanwhile, the Washington State Department of Commerce is offering one-on-one assistance and other resources to try to help building operators meet the requirements passed by legislators.
The Clean Buildings Act passed in 2019 and expanded in 2022. It is meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the state's largest buildings. The original legislation applies to buildings over 50,000 square feet, and requires them to evaluate Energy use in the building, keep maintenance and operations plans, and make adjustments to buildings to reduce Energy use if they are over target amounts. The expanded legislation applies to buildings between 20,000 and 50,000 square feet, and for now only requires benchmarking and maintenance and operations planning. There are some exemptions, including for manufacturing, agriculture and industrial buildings. In many cases, incentives, and financing help are available. 
 

-- Erica Zucco

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) - The Edwardsville school board voted this week to approved the issuance of $13 million dollars in bonds to pay for the installation of solar panels on school buildings. The district plans to install collections of solar panels in 10 places on 7 buildings.
Some taxpayers in the district were uncomfortable with the initial cost but others saw the long range benefits.
“I think long term as an investment it sounds like a good idea,” said Jackie Toigo.
Stephanie Crouch told First Alert Four, ‘I think anything we can do to harness the power of the sun and nature is fantastic.”
The district estimates the use of solar Energy will lead to 40-60% savings on electric bills over the 30 life of the panels.
According to Generation 180′s 2022 Solar Schools Report, the number of schools powered by solar Energy has tripled since 2015. And an estimated 6-million students attend solar powered schools.
The school district’s decision is part of a proliferation of solar panels in the region.
Debbie Evans installed solar panels on her Edwardsville house in March. She said she has no regrets.
 

-- Russell Kinsaul

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jack Reed today announced a new $876,792 federal grant for the Rhode Island Department of Education – RIDE school modernization , preventing environmental health risks, improving maintenance, and planning long-term, under the Supporting America’s School Infrastructure Grant Program. With this funding, RIDE’s School Building Authority would increase necessary supports to assist local education agencies (LEAs) with improving building conditions and educational environments for students and teachers. Additional staff would coordinate Energy efficiency and air quality audits, while aiding districts with procurement, technical assistance, and professional development. Senator Reed helped the U.S. Department of Education recently launch the Supporting America’s School Infrastructure Grant Program to enhance the ability of state departments of education to address school facilities matters.

-- Rob Borkowski

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced over $14 million in awards for 11 under-resourced public-school districts to decarbonize their buildings through the Clean Green Schools initiative. The projects will lower greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the school's reliance on fossil fuels and improve the indoor air quality by installing ground source heat pumps, air source heat pumps and electric kitchen equipment. This announcement supports the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 85 percent by 2050 and ensure 35 percent with a goal of 40 percent of clean Energy investments directly benefit Disadvantaged Communities. “Schools can open an entire world of possibilities and opportunities to our children, but for students to get the most out of their education, they must be in a healthy and safe learning environment,” Governor Hochul said. “Clean Green Schools allows our schools in underserved communities to make vital Energy efficiency upgrades to their facilities that improve indoor air quality and support the success and well-being of students across the state.”

-- Staff Writer

Dublin, Calif. and HOUSTON, Oct. 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) announced the unveiling of their $26 million sustainability and Energy efficiency project this week during a ribbon-cutting event. Working with ENGIE North America (ENGIE), a leader in the net zero Energy transition, this project includes the installation of 4.5 megawatts (MW) of solar panels, HVAC upgrades, and the deployment of 66 electric vehicle ports across 12 schools and the district office, marking a significant milestone in the district's commitment to green initiatives and fiscal responsibility. The district-wide project also includes a student engagement program that features internships, a STEM education program, and a living laboratory. The project showcases DUSD's dedication to providing a greener and healthier environment for students, staff, and the community. The comprehensive scope of this initiative encompasses several components including:

-- Engie North America

The Guam Department of Education intends to reduce the cost of utilities by going solar. GDOE is working with the Guam Power Authority to turn school campuses into “micropower grids.” “We have begun coordination with (the) Guam Power Authority and contractors to develop a grant submittal converting all of our campuses,” GDOE Superintendent Kenneth Erik Swanson reported to the Guam Education Board. The initiative would use existing roof space to install solar panels which will allow GDOE to generate, store and sell back power onto the larger grid. Swanson said, “A discussion in process is intended to develop capacity to store Energy on campuses to be able to go off (the) GPA grid (and) run campuses on solar power when necessary to either reduce billing or load shed from the GPA grid without impacting school operations.”

-- Jolene Toves

Governor Kathy Hochul signed the “Safe Schools by Design Act” that will require all school districts’ five-year capital facilities plans to consider incorporating design principles that will provide a safe, secure, and healthy school environment. The legislation also expands eligible expenses for Extended Day and School Violence Prevention Grants to include programs that facilitate and promote community involvement in school facility planning. “A safe school environment is an essential component to providing the best education for our students,” Governor Hochul said. “This legislation highlights our commitment to our students and educators by ensuring that health and safety are considered at the outset of all school construction projects.” Current law requires that five-year capital facilities plans are developed by each school district to include a building inventory, estimated expenses for building construction, repairs, or renovation, and estimated expenses for building maintenance and Energy consumption. Legislation S.2629A/A.286A amends the education law by requiring that school districts consider the incorporation of design principles and strategies, pursuant to guidance issued by the Commissioner of Education, in their five-year capital plan as part of a comprehensive approach to providing a healthy, secure, and safe school environment. In addition, the legislation includes programs which facilitate and promote community involvement in school facility planning to be eligible expenses for Extended Day and School Violence Prevention Grants.

-- Staff Writer

Two Pioneer Valley lawmakers are seeking a more concrete plan — including the creation of a “watchdog group” — to improve the health of public school buildings and reduce their environmental impact. Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, and Rep. Mindy Domb, D-Amherst, were able to incorporate several pieces of their proposal for healthy and green public schools as part of a major bill focused on clean Energy and offshore wind. That bill passed last year as part of the Legislature’s 2021-2022 session. Their goal was to collect data on the health of school buildings, including their Energy and resource efficiency, to limit exposure to toxic chemicals and create an environment that is “conducive to learning,” according to the original bill. “It was really an exciting and pretty sweeping bill,” Comerford said of the measure, which “urged the collection of real data” on the conditions of school buildings and their infrastructure.

-- EDEN MOR

Hopkins Academy—a public middle and high school serving a few hundred students in Hadley, Mass.—needs a new furnace and a new roof. But the elected school committee has struggled for years to find the right combination of funds and contractors for a project they hope will reduce the 70-year-old building’s environmental footprint.
Enter Sara Ross, co-founder of Undaunted K-12, a nonprofit supporting schools’ efforts to transition to clean Energy. At a statewide conference for school committee leaders, Ross led a session about using federal funds to pay for green infrastructure.
“What I learned at that session really blew my mind,” said Humera Fasihuddin, chair of the Hadley school committee.
She’s likely not alone. The federal government is currently offering funds that Ross believes could be a lifeline for hundreds of districts nationwide that desperately need to upgrade their buildings to withstand the oncoming effects of climate change: extreme heat, unpredictable storms, rampant wildfires, and devastating flooding.
But those funds, tucked inside the sweeping climate change legislation Congress approved a year ago known as the Inflation Reduction Act, have flown under the radar. That may be because the mechanism for receiving them isn’t one school districts typically use.
 

-- Mark Lieberman

Park Middle School was one of 17 K-12 schools across the nation to be recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy for its efforts to conserve Energy and create a healthier and more sustainable building.
Park, with money from a 2020 Lincoln Public Schools bond issue, completed a $20 million project to improve the building’s Energy efficiency and indoor air quality. As a result, it was one of the first schools to be recognized by the department’s Efficient and Healthy Schools campaign.
The campaign was created in 2021 to aid schools across the country in implementing green practices to limit facilities’ Energy use and carbon emissions and cut utility bills. This was the first year the campaign honored schools for their efforts.
Park’s project — which took around two and a half years to complete — is part of a much bigger plan for schools across the district. LPS has been working for years to convert schools from a boiler chiller system to a more environmentally friendly geothermal one.
 

-- Jenna Ebbers

On hot days, fourth-grader Adriana Salas has observed that when the sun beats down on the pavement in her schoolyard it “turns foggy.” There are also days where the slide burns the back of her legs if she is wearing shorts or the monkey bars are too hot to touch. Salas, who attends Roosevelt Elementary School in San Leandro, California, is not alone in feeling the effects of heat on her schoolyard. Across the country, climbing temperatures have led schools to cancel classes and outdoor activities to protect students from the harmful effects of the heat.

This story also appeared in Mind/Shift
Jenny Seydel, an environmental educator and founder of Green Schools National Network, encourages teachers to leverage students’ observations about their schools to make learning come alive. According to Seydel, when teachers use the school grounds as a way to learn about social issues, they’re using their school as a three-dimensional textbook. For example, schools’ Energy and water conservation, architecture and lunches are rich with potential for project-based learning. “We can learn from a textbook. We can memorize concepts. We can use formulas, but we don’t incorporate that learning until it is real,” said Seydel.
Against the backdrop of climate change, Roosevelt Elementary School teachers turned to their schoolyards as a way to apply lessons about rising temperatures to the real world. While these issues can seem overwhelming to young students, exploring them within the context of their school can not only make lessons stick, but also encourage students’ sense of civic agency. 
 

-- NIMAH GOBIR

Plymouth Community Schools is using the sun to power some of its school buildings.
It’s not the first district to use solar panels but district leaders in Plymouth are showing WSBT22 how they are using the sun to save money.
Solar Powered Schools
At Riverside Intermediate in Plymouth, teachers in every classroom are using the sun to light their classrooms.
Not because the sun is shining through the window, but because the sun is helping power the school building and turn the lightbulbs on.
Plymouth Community Schools is powering some of its classrooms, in part, from solar panels.
On sunny days, solar arrays outside Riverside Intermediate and Washington Discovery Academy are soaking up the sun and converting it into Energy.
 

-- Kristin Bien

MANCHESTER, CT (WFSB) - Bower Elementary School officially reopened after a year of Net Zero Energy renovations.
The project finished just in time to welcome students back on Tuesday.
Now, all students will be learning in a school that can produce enough renewable Energy to meet its own annual Energy consumption.
The upgrade also came with enhanced classrooms with high-tech tools and versatile furniture. Teachers say, it takes some of the weight off of their shoulders.
“Having a space like this and having all the resources available really helps me dedicate the time to working with the kids and getting them what they need,” said teacher Ms. Sullivan.
The school also has two STEM labs to help foster an interest in STEM fields.
 

-- Olivia Schueller

The Massachusetts School Building Authority has given the green light for facility upgrades in four Holyoke public schools as part of the state’s Accelerated Repair Projects. The initiative aims to improve learning environments in schools while making strides in Energy efficiency and achieving cost savings. State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg recently announced the approval of these projects. “The Accelerated Repair Program allows us to make critical repairs to more schools in less time,” she said. “By improving the learning environment for our children, the Program also makes schools more Energy efficient and generates significant cost savings.” The MSBA’s recent allocation covers up to $25,897,256 for Accelerated Repair Projects. The MSBA reimburses school districts up to 80% of the cost for improvement or complete construction projects. Holyoke schools have been designated a substantial portion of the latest amount, primarily targeting structurally, functionally, and educationally buildings needing specific repairs or replacements.

-- Dennis Hohenberger

POLSON - Students are back roaming the halls this week in Polson schools with classes officially back in session.
The school district is looking to build off momentum from last spring after passing two bonds at the elementary and high school levels.
“There’s a ton of Energy and excitement to start the year for lots of reasons, and one of those factors is that we passed our bonds in the spring," said Polson High School Principal Andy Fors.
Polson voters backed their school district in a big way last spring approving two bonds, providing $40 million in funding to drastically improve outdated school buildings.
“We feel the support of our community, and that’s a huge thing to know that we have people here that believe in what we’re doing and want to help us create a better environment for our students," Fors told MTN News "It goes a long ways to know that we have that community support."
 

-- Sean Wells

Energy savings projects are moving forward at Valparaiso Community Schools. The school board Thursday approved various agreements for a $5.8 million guaranteed savings contract. That means the work will have to pay for itself over the next 20 years, or the contractor, Veregy, will have to pay the difference. The project should pay for itself and then some, according to Bob McKinney with construction manager Stratelign. "Over the 20 years is a net-positive [roughly] $12 million savings, when you pay off the loan and the interest, apply the rebates, incentives and grant from the [Inflation Reduction Act] and then monetize the savings over the 20 years," McKinney explained. The project includes solar panels at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School and Thomas Jefferson Middle School, new boilers at Thomas Jefferson Middle School and LED lighting in nine school buildings. It will be financed through a lease/purchase agreement. Superintendent Dr. Jim McCall said that allows the school corporation to pay for the work without issuing additional bonds.

-- Michael Gallenberger

On Aug. 8, the U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools award winners gathered in Washington, D.C, for a ceremony and reception to recognize each school’s commitment to and achievements promoting sustainability practices on their campuses. This annual event is the only dedicated time for honorees to be celebrated on the national stage, and it serves as a platform for the Department of Education to highlight practices and resources other schools across the nation can use to leverage collaboration to create healthy and sustainable schools.
For the first time in many years, the event also included all-day programming during which the honorees could learn from one another. This year, the department honored 26 schools, 11 districts and 4 postsecondary institutions from 18 states. The awards demonstrate that green school practices benefit a range of students, including those in underserved communities; 56% of the honorees' students are considered underserved. Utility cost savings, healthy school practices and future-facing education should be available to all students, and the group of awardees is one indication that the green school movement is making strides toward equity of impact.
Celebrating health and sustainability for students
Keynote speakers addressed honorees at the day’s opening session and later at the award ceremony. These speakers included Cindy Marten, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education; Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; Henry McKoy, director of the Office of State and Community Energy Programs at the U.S. Department of Energy; Janet McCabe, deputy administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and Maggie Thomas, special assistant to the president for climate.
Speakers stressed the administration’s support of the honorees’ work to curb climate impacts, cut costs, support health and wellness, and encourage environmental and sustainability literacy at their schools. Several relayed personal stories about their first childhood memories of connecting with nature or being inspired to care for the environment by a teacher or mentor.
 

-- Jacqueline Maley

The state’s Department of Energy is giving economically disadvantaged public schools a better chance at accomplishing Energy efficiency projects, as part of an effort to align itself with a federal directive from President Joe Biden. A competitive matching grant program designed to advance projects in public and chartered public schools in small communities, the School Energy Efficiency Development Grant Program, known as SEED, was created with federal dollars in 2018. Since the program’s inception, four Energy efficiency projects have been successfully completed in Hill, Lempster, New Boston, and Litchfield using $335,000 in grants. A fifth project in Berlin is underway.  The projects have resulted in a combined annual savings of more than $65,000, 335,945 kilowatt hours of electricity, and more than 5,200 gallons of heating fuel, according to the Department of Energy, which puts out a request for proposals annually. Schools can apply to use the funding for insulation, lighting, weather sealing, appliances and equipment, retrofitting, and replacement of windows and doors.  Last year, the grant program changed its scoring criteria for the pool of federal Energy efficiency money to tip the scale in the application process for less-advantaged schools, part of an effort to advance a federal environmental justice initiative by President Biden. A related public comment process in February explored how the department could improve grant accessibility and the application itself. 

-- HADLEY BARNDOLLAR

CARDIGAN, P.E.I. — A school in Cardigan is gearing up to become the first carbon-neutral school in P.E.I.
Cardigan Consolidated School is replacing its oil boilers with an inground geothermal system for temperature control in the building and installing a 100-kilowatt solar panel array system for basic electricity.
Additional renewable Energy and efficiency upgrades are also planned to allow the building to produce as much renewable Energy as it consumes annually.
“The education system is already leading by example by reducing transportation by using electric school buses, and Cardigan Consolidated will take the lead in reducing the emissions of our existing government buildings,” said Energy Minister Steven Myers.
“Youth leadership is essential to realizing a net zero future, so the students in Cardigan will also get a front-row seat to the latest net-zero technologies.”
 

-- Staff Writer

Every day, students around the country attend school in buildings that are outdated—sometimes more than a century old. Without sufficient budget for infrastructure upgrades, those aging buildings might have leaky roofs, moldy ceilings, or a lack of air conditioning—all of which make for less-than-optimal learning environments. The Energy CLASS (Champions Leading the Advancement of Sustainable Schools) Prize was designed to give underserved communities a leg up when it comes to making those needed upgrades in their schools. Now, 25 local education agencies (LEAs) have been named Energy CLASS prize winners and awarded $100,000 each, along with the training and one-on-one coaching needed to put those funds to work helping their schools meet health and Energy-efficiency goals.

-- Tiffany Plate

Seven schools in Jefferson County will benefit from Energy efficiency and system upgrades that are designed to not only save costs, but create healthier and safer learning environments for students. Jefferson County Schools (JEFCOED) is among the first-round recipients of a federal Renew America’s Schools grant from the Department of Energy. In partnership with Alabama Power, JEFCOED will use the funds for upgrades at the following facilities. “This grant award is big for Jefferson County Schools for a lot of reasons,” said Superintendent Walter B. Gonsoulin Jr. “We’ll be able to improve facilities at these schools, not to mention save on Energy costs. That money can be put towards other programs that will improve student learning and student outcomes. We are very grateful for this grant and our partnership with Alabama Power.”

-- Anthony Cook

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Efficient and Healthy Schools Campaign recently recognized Springfield Public Schools, citing the district’s “exemplary projects to improve the Energy and environmental performance of their school’s facilities.” Superintendent of Schools Daniel Warwick said the district is one of 17 school districts nationwide to receive such recognition. The district was honored for upgrading facilities with technologies and practices that create healthy and more sustainable learning environments for students and staff and lower their facilities’ Energy needs, carbon emissions, and utility bills. 

-- Staff Writer

If the state budget breaks right, Winthrop could be looking at being eligible for new roofs for its two elementary schools. Monday night, the School Committee agreed to sign a letter of intent to move forward with a solar panel program at the two schools. Ultimately, the project could put the town in line for the state’s Green Grant program which would pay for new roofs at the schools. “We have been talking to Solect Energy, they are the ones who put the solar panels on the middle school-high school building, and they own that system and we get credits on our bill every month for the power that we generate there,” said Town Manager Tony Marino. Marino said Solect Energy is interested in doing other projects and entering into similar agreements at other sites in the town, including the ice rink. “But for this committee, they were really interested in putting solar panels on the two elementary schools,” said Marino.”One of the issues we have is that the roofs are 20 years old … so you don’t want to go starting to put 15-year solar panels on a roof that’s 20 years old.” However, Marino said the problem Winthrop faces with its school roofs is not a unique one throughout the state.

-- Adam Swift

A new grant program from the U.S. Department of Energy is poised to send $178 million to American schools for Energy efficiency and student health projects. One of the funding recipients is a coalition of 20 Illinois school districts, led by a western Illinois district with just 300 students. Williamsfield Schools Superintendent Tim Farquer says the long path to the Renew America's Schools grant started three years ago with just eight school districts. Those schools formed the “Bus to Grid” initiative. “Just to try and help each other get funding for electric buses, in particular,” said Farquer. “But in a way that supports the expansion of renewable Energy.” Over the years, Farquer and the coalition applied for a list of funding opportunities to purchase electric buses and build charging infrastructure for schools around the state. Farquer says it's important to invest in preparing for a switch to electric, not just for environmental reasons, but also for the health of students who ride diesel buses every day. “The numbers support the fact that we have more respiratory issues with kids and adults than we have in years past,” he said. “And emissions from diesel engines just have a tendency to agitate that.”

-- Collin Schopp

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), today announced the first round of selectees for the Renew America’s Schools grant program, a competitive award that will support the implementation of Energy improvements in K–12 schools across the country. There are 24 Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in 22 states that will share in approximately $178 million of funding, enabling them to pursue diverse projects to lower Energy costs, lower emissions, and create healthier, safer, and more supportive learning environments in their schools. This historic investment will directly benefit about 74,000 students and 5,000 teachers in 97 school buildings across America. DOE’s focus on public schools, which make up the second-largest sector of American infrastructure after transportation, supports President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda by promoting STEM education and workforce development, while creating well-paying jobs that stimulate local economies. The announcement comes on the heels on President Biden delivering a major economic address on “Bidenomics” – his vision for growing the economy from the middle-out and bottom-up, including by investing in American infrastructure. 

-- Staff Writer

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — The Rockford Public School Board has approved a plan to install multiple solar panel farms at more than a dozen schools throughout the city, in an effort to reduce its operating costs. RPS Chief Operations Officer Michael Phillips says the project began with the school district’s desire to purchase low-cost Energy that is generated on-site, but now the community itself will be able to take advantage of the same opportunity. “It’s a great opportunity for us, to find some additional ways to generate power in a sustainable manner,” Phillips said. Last night, the board approved a five-year lease option with Forefront Energy to install 13 solar farms at schools, and a 14th in a field near Lathrop Elementary School for community use. The project will consist of 9 rooftop installations and 5 ground-mount locations. “This is power that’s generated and going directly to the ComEd grid, and then we will purchase the renewable Energy credits. The community will also have an opportunity, and neighbors, to purchase these same renewable Energy credits,” Phillips said.

-- Nikelle Delgado

The small Steelton-Highspire School District, a few miles south of Harrisburg along the Susquehanna River, consists of just three buildings — an elementary school, a high school and an administrative office. They sit on just over 50 acres and serve some 1,400 students, according to superintendent Mick Iskric. They’re unassuming, and at first glance, obfuscate a large structure from view: Tucked behind one building, between the elementary students’ playground and the high school students’ football field, sit a few dozen rows of solar panels that, for a little more than a year, have generated enough power to meet all of this modest district’s Energy needs. Iskric has a laundry list of projects in view for Steelton-Highspire — many of which, including the solar array, are born out of necessity. A low-income district, it’s been operating at an annual deficit for 14 years, he says. It’s located in a legacy steel town, where the crash of the industry and the 2008 recession both depressed the property tax base, leaving its schools without sufficient funds for educational programming, teacher salaries and much-needed infrastructure upgrades. So, the district sought out new revenue sources — and, in 2019, turned to solar Energy. It crafted a purchase-power agreement with a local solar developer, located acreage on top of an old landfill, and installed enough solar panels to generate 1.7 megawatts of electricity — “roughly 3,500 panels,” Iskric says. That’s enough power for both schools and then some — the district will save an estimated $1.6 million over the course of its 20-year agreement with the developer, at variable rates per month depending on the surplus Energy the panels generate and feed back to the grid, he says.

-- Audrey Carleton

Dare County Schools has announced that three schools in the district will receive NC GreenPower’s grant award for the Solar+ Schools program.  Cape Hatteras Secondary School, First Flight Elementary School and Manteo Middle School will receive a solar educational package that includes a 20-kilowatt (kW) solar array, STEM curricula, teacher training and more.  New for 2023, the program awardees will receive a grant to pay for all of the project’s construction costs, expected to be approximately $55,000-$75,000. The included weather station and data monitoring will incorporate live information from the array into classrooms. Teachers will be able to compare different weather scenarios and involve students in reading and interpreting the Energy data.

-- Staff Writer

K-12 school districts were graded on the condition of their facilities in 2021, and the results were less than flattering. 
“The 2021 infrastructure report card graded U.S. school facilities to be in D plus condition,” says Sarah Zaleski, program manager of the schools and nonprofits program at the Department of Energy (DOE).  
Federal funding for school districts is rare, but the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) changed that, directing $500 million in grant money as part of a $370 billion commitment for Energy-saving projects and to fight climate change. 
Despite the influx of BIL money, state and local governments aren’t always in position to fund school districts at levels to keep their buildings running at peak efficiency, so any extra money that’s added to the coffers to help with costly upgrades for systems such as HVAC and lighting is welcomed. 

-- Dave Lubach

Big changes are coming to Energy consumption at Jersey City schools. Last night, the Board of Education approved an Energy Savings Improvement Plan, or “ESIP,” that is expected to be the largest such project in New Jersey history. The ESIP, as presented to the Board at Monday’s caucus, is widespread and designed to increase student productivity in the classroom and save money in the budget for re-allocation. Priorities in the ESIP include new HVAC equipment for eight schools, boiler replacements, roof restorations for 21 schools, and district-wide interior and exterior LED lighting. There will also be a new unified Energy management system across the district and increased use of renewable solar Energy. In addition to Energy conservation measures, there are also educational programs provided, such as working with the district to incorporate lessons about Energy conservation across grade levels. There will also be a program specifically tailored to increasing the number of women in STEM/STEAM, engineering, and construction industries.

-- Ryan Kilkenny

Dare County Schools is pleased to announce that three schools in the district will receive NC GreenPower’s grant award for the Solar+ Schools program. Cape Hatteras Secondary School, First Flight Elementary, and Manteo Middle School will receive a solar educational package that includes a 20-kilowatt (kW) solar array, STEM curricula, teacher training and more. New for 2023, the program awardees will receive a grant to pay for all of the project’s construction costs, expected to be approximately $55,000-$75,000. The included weather station and data monitoring will incorporate live information from the array into classrooms. Teachers will be able to compare different weather scenarios and involve students in reading and interpreting the Energy data. We are very excited to be able to install larger systems for the first time and save schools even more on their Energy bills. Removing the fundraising burden and simplifying the application process has been well received by our applicants and enabled additional schools to consider installing solar,” said Vicky McCann, vice president of NC GreenPower. “We are proud to continue educating younger generations about solar Energy. By the end of next year, we will have reached more than 62,000 students across North Carolina.”

-- WOBX Staff

Bedford Town officials are projecting expenses that could total more than $30 million, spread over several years, to pursue the goal of converting the four schoolhouses to Energy net zero. The most recent six-year capital plan targets the first step for fiscal year 2025: an allocation of $320,000 to replace the hot-water heaters at Bedford High School. Replacement of the Davis School roof, with a current estimated cost of $1,648,000, is inserted into Fiscal Year 2026. One year later, the total exceeds $4 million, then surpasses $6.5 million in Fiscal Year 2028. Taissir Alani, Director of Facilities for the schools and town, recently summarized the projects as part of a short- and long-range capital spending presentation to the School Committee. “The cost really is a placeholder because as we get closer to the project, we reassess the cost and equipment,” Alani said in a recent interview. And Amy Fidalgo, Assistant Town Manager for Operations, stressed that heating, ventilation, and roof replacements are likely to be “moved out to further years in the next iteration of the capital plan, which will be vetted by the Capital Expenditure Committee in the fall. “Our ability to move these projects out a few funding cycles is due to excellent preventative maintenance our facilities department is able to perform in order to extend the lifespan of many of these items,” she explained.

-- Mike Rosenberg

The Carson City School District’s Facilities Master Plan Committee has made its final recommendations for building and maintenance needs. Superintendent Andrew Feuling said they will be considered during the Board of Trustees’ Capital Improvement Plan discussion Tuesday, May 23. Projects are prioritized according to the district’s financial constraints while ensuring student and staff safety, health and comfort, educational program needs and Energy and operational safety, Feuling told trustees May 9. The Fritsch Elementary and Carson Middle school campuses are nearly 70 years old and Carson High is coming up on 50 years old. All district facilities are at least 30 years old, Feuling said. “While we have to think about maintaining those facilities, while it would be nice to say we could replace all these eventually, with the property tax caps that are currently in place, it likely won’t go away and continues to squeeze funding over time,” he said. High schools being built in Washoe County now cost about $250 million, and Carson City can’t afford to do the same, he said. The district had the funding to build Empire, Fremont and Mark Twain elementary schools between 1988 and 1992, but those dollars aren’t available today, he said. Marty Johnson of JNA Consulting Group, the district’s bond consultant, said Carson City has a bonding capacity of a $25 million issuance this summer or fall with another $12.5 million available by 2027. There is $5 million remaining from its last bond. The Facilities Master Plan document encompasses overall district projects at a cost of $3 million for assessments on its properties or ones to acquire in upcoming months. Examples include heating, ventilation and air conditioning needs for Carson High School, alarm systems and security camera refreshing or to purchase 10 acres of the former Lompa Ranch.

-- Jessica Garcia

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announces the Phase 1 Winners to share in the $4.5 million Energy Champions Leading the Advancement of Sustainable Schools Prize (Energy CLASS Prize), a competitive award promoting Energy management in school districts across America. Twenty-five Local Education Agencies (LEAs) will each receive a $100,000 cash prize to establish, train, and support Energy managers in their schools. These Energy Champions will develop projects and skills to lower Energy costs, improve indoor air quality, and enhance learning environments in their communities. At the end of Phase 2, based on their performance, Phase 1 winners will be eligible for an extra $50,000 in funding. Energy CLASS Prize funds have the potential to impact over 700,000 students, in 1,300 schools, across 19 states. As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, this funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law advances the Department’s mission to streamline investments in clean Energy workforce development, which is critical to the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to achieve net-zero emissions no later than 2050 while creating jobs, building a pipeline for young people, and supporting workers and communities across this nation. 

-- Staff Writer

Behind Parkway South High School on Wednesday, students were playing kickball on what looked like a normal, grassy field. But hundreds of feet below ground, a geothermal plant was using the Earth’s temperature to heat and cool the school. That system is not something you would find at most schools in the U.S. Its uniqueness brought Maria Vargas, the Department of Energy's director of its Better Buildings Initiative, this week to recognize the Parkway School District. The geothermal plant is one of many sustainability efforts in Parkway, including solar panels, LED lights and even district-wide composting. The district has also replaced roofs and upgraded insulation to make sure Parkway South is as efficient as possible. “I'm here to see firsthand what they're doing at the school district that allowed them to be so aggressive and successful in reducing Energy waste,” Vargas said. The Parkway School District has been working to improve Energy efficiency for years. It became part of the federal Better Buildings Challenge and met its goal of 25% Energy use reduction in 2020. Now the district has set a goal of an additional 35% reduction by 2035.

-- Kate Grumke

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) has fully committed the $180 million budgeted for the School and Small Business Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program (SSBP), aimed at helping schools and small businesses reduce their water and Energy consumption and improve indoor air quality for children and small businesses. The program is closed and no longer accepting applications. “Through the Schools and Small Business grant program, we are putting the health of our children first and ensuring small businesses have access to the tools they need to streamline Energy and water use and improve indoor air quality in their establishments,” said NJBPU President Joseph L. Fiordaliso. “As we rise to the challenges of climate change and the ongoing pandemic, these grants will enable the direct benefits of cleaner facilities, as well as the economic boost in local labor needed to complete these projects, especially in underserved communities.” “As one of the prime sponsors of the law that established the School and Small Business Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program, I am incredibly proud that it has been so successful,” said Senator Troy Singleton. “This program is providing the necessary funding to allow these already cash-strapped businesses and school districts to upgrade their HVAC and plumbing systems, which will improve the air our residents breathe and the water they drink overall.”

-- Staff Writer

Alabama Power and the Chilton County Board of Education are partnering to pursue a Renew America’s Schools grant for Energy efficiency upgrades.  Danielle Crowder of Alabama Power presented information about the partnership during the April 18 BOE meeting.
“Alabama Power is really excited to partner (with the school system),” Crowder said. “This grant program focuses on rural, disadvantaged communities, (those) school systems that have a high percentage of students that are eligible for free and reduced lunch.”  Renew America’s Schools is a grant program through the U.S. Department of Energy. The funding is specifically for Energy efficiency improvements and addressing building-related health issues. At the national level, $80 million will be distributed in this funding cycle.
 

-- Joyanna Love

For years, students and clean Energy advocates have been pushing Miami-Dade County Public Schools to install solar panels in a city seen globally as emblematic of the threats posed by climate change On Thursday, MDCPS unveiled a 114-panel solar array at MAST@FIU — a magnet high school on the university’s Biscayne Bay campus. According to school officials, the installation is the first of its kind in the district. “Imagine a school, a community or a nation where carbon-based Energy sources have been replaced with clean, affordable Energy from the sun or other renewable sources,” said MAST@FIU Principal Matthew Welker. “That's the promise the solar canopy creates in the minds of all those who visit the school.” Miami is one of the country's most vulnerable cities to climate-related problems, including sea level rise, extreme heat, strong tropical storms and threats to vulnerable wildlife such as manatees. Last month, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told a global climate conference in Miami Beach that the area has more days of extreme heat than anywhere else in the U.S.

-- Kate Payne

During the April 11, 2023 school board meeting, South Pasadena Unified School District (SPUSD) unveiled plans to install solar panels at all five district school sites and the District Office before the end of 2024. Each site will add roof, carport or field arrays in single- and double-wide configurations to maximize the amount of power produced while taking the existing landscape into consideration. According to Generation180, a nonprofit that promotes and tracks clean Energy, by early 2022 nearly one in 10 K-12 public schools across the country were using solar Energy and the number continues to grow. The SPUSD solar project was approved by the Board of Education and includes installing panels that will supply more than 1100kW DC of power. The panels will produce an Energy (solar) offset ranging from 33-90% depending on the site where they are installed. Solar offset is the amount of electricity the solar project produces in a year divided by the total amount of electricity actually used that year expressed as a percentage. These estimates are impacted by roof size, solar seasonality, and utility regulations.

-- Staff Writer

Dexter Community Schools is announcing its first ever community-wide fundraising campaign to construct a Solar Panel Walkway and Solar Field along the bus hub that will provide sustainable Energy to the surrounding schools, offer significant Energy cost savings for the schools over time, protect and shade students while they wait for the bus, and provide unique and hands-on place-based educational opportunities for students of all ages. Dexter Community Schools is partnering with a local foundation, businesses, alumni, and the community to raise the funds necessary to build the solar panel walkway and nearby solar field.

-- Lonnie Huhman

Five schools will become model green schools thanks to an investment programme focusing on sustainable Energy in education, the education ministry announced on Wednesday. Through a total investment of €2 million, these five schools are expected to become model green schools within eight months. The five schools are Ayios Dometios gymnasium, Ayias Trimithias primary school, Dali primary school, and nursery schools in Aglandjia and Ayios Antonios. More schools will gradually be inducted in the Pedia project, with €20 million in funding allocated from the Thalia programme, the budget of which for green school investments amounts to €30 million. A total of 162 schools from all educational levels applied for Energy upgrades, of which 144 were eligible. All schools were evaluated and ranked, and five schools were selected to join the Pedia project. This is an emblematic project for Cyprus, ministry general director Neophytos Papadopoulos said, adding that it will also be a point of reference for Europe.

-- Antigoni Pitta

WEST WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Additional funding is on the way for school districts across Rhode Island to help them reduce Energy costs. State leaders announced Friday another $10 million has been secured for the Public School Energy Equity Program, bringing the total budget to $20 million. Officials said the funding will allow schools to install building automation systems and upgrade their lighting, ventilation, heating and air conditioning systems. Gov. Dan McKee said the money will help give students and teachers a better learning environment. “Studies show that more comfortable classrooms lead to higher test scores,” he said. The Rhode Island Department of Education also found in a 2017 study that by reducing Energy consumption in schools, nearly $34 million could be saved statewide each year.

-- Joe Cortese, Allison Shinskey

WHEELING – Energy savings improvements implemented as part of overall upgrades on Ohio County Schools properties have saved the district more than $2.3 million over the last three years – nearly $1 million above what was expected during that time, according to engineers from CMTA Energy Solutions.
Jonathan Gasser and Presley Dean, engineers with CMTA, recently provided an update to Ohio County Board of Education members on the success of Energy savings promised by the company as part of its contract with Ohio County Schools.
They provided numbers showing the total amount of Energy savings in the school district over the past three years at $2,320,095.
CMTA had guaranteed Ohio County Schools a savings of $1,347,534 over the first three years of the contract, and this sets the savings beyond expectations at $972,561 to date. CMTA had guaranteed Ohio County Schools a savings on its utility costs of $7 million over the next 15 years, or over the term of the 15-year school improvement bond passed by voters in 2018.
 

-- JOSELYN KING

Solar power systems will be installed by Secure Solar Futures on the rooftops of buildings at 12 school sites across Prince William County. They include three high schools: Battlefield High School, Freedom High School and Gainesville High School. In addition, solar panels will go to two middle schools, Beville Middle School and Potomac Shores Middle School, and seven elementary schools: Chris Yung Elementary School, Covington-Harper Elementary School, Jenkins Elementary School, Kilby Elementary School, Kyle Wilson Elementary School, Leesylvania Elementary School, and Minnieville Elementary School. “One of the largest school districts in the country going solar makes Prince William County Schools a national leader on clean Energy and sustainability,” said Ryan McAllister, CEO of Secure Solar Futures. “The schools will showcase solar power systems right on location. That will send a powerful message to students that they don’t have to wait for the clean Energy economy to arrive in the future. It’s already here.” With a capacity of 7.9 megawatts total, the combined solar arrays will save the district more than $16 million in Energy costs over the next 25 years.

-- Erik Curren, Secure Solar Futures

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – A Florida House subcommittee unanimously passed a bill that would provide exemptions for upgrades at education facilities that are used as emergency shelters during storms. The bill will exempt any costs that is less than $2 million for upgrades that improve the capability of education facilities that serve as an emergency shelter from the Cost Per Student Station. Since 1997, Florida has used the CPSS analysis to quantify construction costs related to traditional kindergarten through grade 12 school facilities, according to the Florida Department of Education. Eligible upgrades are limited to those “necessary for an area to be designated as an enhanced hurricane protection area.” These upgrades include electrical and standby emergency power systems, renewable Energy source devices, and Energy storage devices. The bill’s co-sponsors, Rep. Joe Casello, D-Boynton Beach, and Rep. Lindsay Cross, D-St. Petersburg, introduced the bill in the PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee. The bill passed with a vote of 15-0.

-- Amber Jo Cooper

New Jersey has some of the most solar powered schools in the U.S., according to data from Generation 180, a nonprofit organization that compiles data on clean Energy
At least 662 New Jersey schools have installed solar panels as of 2022, the data showed. Only California, with 2,819 schools with solar had more.
“California and New Jersey together account for more than HALF of the solar capacity installed on nationwide K-12 schools,” Tish Tablan, program director at Generation 180 told NJ Advance Media in an email.
From 2018 to 2022, solar installations in New Jersey K-12 schools has grown by nearly 50 percent, Tablan said.
Of the schools who’ve chosen to add solar, 59 percent have a higher numbers of children from low-income families, Tablan said.
Newark Public School district started installing solar panels at some of its schools in 2021. At that time, the federal Infrastructure Recovery Act solar incentives were not yet available, according to Rodney Williams, director of sustainability for the district.

-- Staff Writer

Schools play an essential role in every childs’ beginning – a place that should encourage a love of learning, foster personal and educational growth, while providing a safe and healthy environment to do so. Studies show that students even learn better in an environment free from air pollution, yet many schools still use diesel-burning buses and outdated Energy systems. Luckily, with new federal funding available through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Investment Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA), there are now more funding opportunities than ever to update school transportation and Energy systems, fostering the best learning environment possible for your students. Not only is this beneficial for the environment, but it will protect students from health risks while simultaneously saving your school district money.  Installing Solar Panels The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides substantial funding of solar Energy projects that can lower utility bills for school districts. Valuable savings that can be redirected to other school priorities. With the largest investment into clean Energy and electrification ever seen in the country, the IRA makes going solar easier than ever, and for the first time, tax-exempt entities can directly take advantage of these incentives.   Prior to the passage of the IRA, schools were unable to directly take advantage of federal tax credits to support installation of solar panels. Now, at least 30% of the cost of a solar project and installation can be covered by direct pay tax credits from the federal government through 2032. 

-- Grace Coates

More solar panels could be coming to newly built public schools throughout New Mexico, after a bill to require the power source was advanced by lawmakers last week and awaits another hearing on its way to becoming law.
Senate Bill 60, sponsored by Sen. William Soules (D-37) would require public schools be outfitted with photovoltaic solar panel systems capable of providing Energy needed by the school if constructed and receiving state funds after July 1, 2023.
The bill was passed by the Senate Education Committee Jan. 27 on a 4-2 vote and was sent to the Senate Finance Committee for a subsequent hearing and further action.
If passed, SB 60 would amend New Mexico’s Public School Capital Outlay Act to include solar systems as eligible for state funding and require any school receiving grant assistance from the Public School Capital Outlay Fund include such a system capable of meeting the school’s Energy needs.
Soules, who serves as chair of the Senate Education Committee, said during the hearing that the bill would help the state make progress toward its goals to limiting higher-carbon forms of Energy like natural gas.
 

-- Adrian Hedden

WAPELLO — A proposed solar project received an informal nod of acceptance by the Wapello School Board during a special meeting on Wednesday. The informal agreement with Red Lion Renewables, Norwalk, is expected to be formally approved by the school board at its Feb. 8 regular meeting. According to the proposal presented by Red Lion Renewables CEO Terry Dvorak, a solar panel array system will be installed on a proposed canopy at the elementary school bus entry site. Roof arrays will also be installed at the bus barn, administration building and the high school building complex. The equipment will remain the property of Red Lion Renewables, unless the district decides to purchase the arrays after the sixth year of operation.

-- Jill Rudisill

As Delaware officials retest all water consumption points in K-12 schools for the presence of lead after a botched previous effort, a consensus view has emerged for the best solution to keep kids safe. That remedy is the installation and maintenance of filtering systems, a fix that’s already in use in many homes, businesses, community centers, and some schools. Education Secretary Mark Holodick told a Senate Health and Social Service Committee hearing last week that “filter first’’ should be the mantra going forward. “You really want to think about investing your time and Energy into filtration systems and replacing those fixtures rather than just testing over and over and over again,’’ Holodick told lawmakers, echoing the advice he’s received from health experts. “That’s where you want to get to.”

-- Cris Barrish

El Dorado School District (ESD) School Board and faculty members gathered to celebrate the district’s newly constructed 1.75-MWAC solar array. The project will offset 88% of the district’s Energy usage and expenses, saving ESD over $128,000 annually in Energy costs. ESD entered into a Solar Services Agreement (SSA) with Entegrity, an Energy efficiency and solar company headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. With an SSA, the district creates savings by purchasing renewable Energy from Entegrity at a fixed price lower than their current electricity rate.

-- Kelsey Misbrener

More than half the Energy used in K-12 schools goes toward heating and cooling buildings. And more than 60 percent of school HVAC systems’ Energy use is tied to on-site burning fossil fuels, the primary driver of climate change.
All told, emissions from HVAC systems in schools each year roughly equal that of 5 million gas-powered cars, and imposes on society at least $2 billion in costs.
These are among the takeaways from a new report published Thursday by sustainability nonprofits RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute) and UndauntedK12. The report synthesizes federal data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and other sources to highlight K-12 schools’ substantial carbon footprint, and outlines how schools can reduce that impact by prioritizing Energy efficiency.
And one way to do that, the report argues, may be to take advantage of funding opportunities available now to install HVAC systems powered by electric heat pumps.
Schools’ contributions to climate change are drawing greater scrutiny as the planet continues to heat up and governments around the world are slowly grinding into action to reverse its most devastating effects. HVAC systems have also entered the spotlight during the pandemic because of their role in preventing the spread of infectious disease.
Heating and cooling are among the biggest drivers of schools’ Energy output, according to the report. Outdoor temperatures are becoming more extreme in both directions, which will only increase the pressure on schools’ HVAC systems—and hamper students’ learning experiences—in the coming years.
Right now, only roughly a quarter of schools use electricity for heating, and roughly one in 10 schools currently use heat pumps for heating and cooling, according to the report’s analysis of federal survey data.
 

-- Mark Lieberman

Nearly four years after its inception, Bard High School Early College DC has found a new, permanent home in Congress Heights. Upon their return from winter break earlier this week, nearly 400 students gingerly entered their newly renovated school building. Days later, on Thursday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and several other District officials commemorated this milestone with a ribbon-cutting.  Once construction of the building, formerly known as the Malcolm X Opportunity Center on Alabama Avenue in Southeast, reaches full completion later this year, it will have nearly three dozen classrooms, rooftop solar panels, a theater and gymnasium, a soccer field, track field and basketball court along with several Energy-saving amenities.  For many students, including Josiah Best, the new building not only represents the fulfillment of a vision, but the end of a tumultuous journey. 

-- Sam P.K. Collins

A recent change to Mississippi’s power generation laws, set to take effect in January, will allow over half of the state’s public school districts to start saving money by generating their own solar Energy. The new rule, which the Public Service Commission agreed to with the state’s two investor-owned utilities in October, paves the way for school districts to earn credits for generating solar power without actually having to pay for the solar panels. Starting in 2023, any of the 95 public school districts served by Entergy Mississippi or Mississippi Power can enter into what’s called a power purchase agreement, where a third-party contractor foots the bill to add solar panels to the school district’s property. Entergy or Mississippi Power would then buy the generated solar power and credit the district on its Energy bill. For funding the new system, the contractor would be eligible for government tax credits.
While the rule change opens a door for widespread renewable Energy use in Mississippi, a few of the state’s school districts are already generating solar power, with some seeing new wiggle room in their budgets. “It’s been a very, very big win for the district,” said Mike Papas, director of Auxiliary Services at the Forrest County School District.
 

-- JUSTIN MITCHELL

Seven schools in Stokes County have less than 20 years before reaching the end of their 80-year lifespan, according to a Facility Condition Assessment (FCA) performed by Peterson/Gordon Architects. The architects were scheduled to present the findings and answer questions at the latest school board meeting in December but requested to reschedule to the first of the year. Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jared Jones explained to the board the FCA was ordered by the county and conducted to assess the current condition of each of the Stokes County Schools buildings. It was provided to help determine whether to maintain, repair, or replace each of the represented school facilities. Issues raised in the assessment were the level of unused capacity at most schools, overall trend of decreasing enrollment numbers and schools with higher enrollment numbers. “We’ve talked about this as a potential funding issue and also mentioned the level of unused capacity at some of our schools,” Dr. Jones said. “I think it’s important to take away here that our elementary and high schools are operating at approximately 50% capacity. Some are higher and some are lower but as an average our elementary and high schools are operating at 50%, where our middle schools are operating at approximately 60% capacity. Obviously, this configuration can be costly to maintain and as noted in the study, as staffing and Energy costs increase overtime the need to reduce the number of schools may surface.”

-- Amanda Dodson

A recent change to Mississippi’s power generation laws, set to take effect in January, will allow over half of the state’s public school districts to start saving money by generating their own solar Energy.  The new rule, which the Public Service Commission agreed to with the state’s two investor-owned utilities in October, paves the way for school districts to earn credits for generating solar power without actually having to pay for the solar panels.  Starting in 2023, any of the 95 public school districts served by Entergy Mississippi or Mississippi Power can enter into what’s called a power purchase agreement, where a third-party contractor foots the bill to add solar panels to the school district’s property. Entergy or Mississippi Power would then buy the generated solar power and credit the district on its Energy bill. For funding the new system, the contractor would be eligible for government tax credits. 

-- Alex Rozier

Anisa Heming has been working on making schools more sustainable for a decade and a half, now as director of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, a Washington nonprofit. And she’s never seen a moment of opportunity quite like this. “It’s an out-of-body experience, honestly,” she said. “Communities are demanding it, federal money is here, and the districts that didn’t do the prep work are scrambling.”
Since President Joe Biden took office in early 2021, three different giant federal spending packages have passed: the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act. Each includes grants and tax credits school districts can use to benefit the climate while also, typically, saving money in Energy bills over time. There are billions and billions for boosting building efficiency; replacing boilers, ovens and other appliances with clean-running electric models; solar and battery installations; electric school buses; charging stations; and more.
In some cases, districts can make upgrades with no upfront cost at all.
The enthusiasm is palpable: The Environmental Protection Agency received so many applications for electric school bus funding, it doubled the amount it originally planned to award, to nearly $1 billion the first year. (More money is coming, up to $5 billion for that one program.) 
So if you are a member of a school community — student, parent, teacher or leader — here are seven steps to claim your piece of the clean, green pie. “Don’t wait. Don’t hesitate. Act and figure it out,” urged Bryant Shaw, sustainability manager for the Dallas Independent School District.

-- Opinion - ANYA KAMENETZ

The Washoe County School District will build a new Vaughn Middle School and tear down the existing building after an independent audit found school facilities unfit for student learning. The initial findings came from Cannon Design, an architecture and engineering the district hired in September to create a five-year construction project plan. Dozens of WCSD schools received poor marks on everything from Energy efficiency and bathrooms to safety and classroom sizes. The report revealed the district’s middle schools are a story of “the haves and have nots,” according to Paul Mills, vice president of Cannon Designs. He said many of the district schools in areas of high poverty that were built more than 50 years ago have issues. Of the district's 17 middle schools, seven were identified as having inadequate facilities. Of those seven, Vaughn, Dilworth, Traner and Sparks middle schools were also identified as also having students with the highest needs.

-- Siobhan McAndrew

GRAVETTE -- The Gravette School District is spending more on Energy this school year than originally planned. During the School Board meeting Nov. 14, Business Manager Dennis Kurczek reported the district was at 47% of the electricity budget and 45% of the diesel and fuel budget, even though the district was only about a third of the way through the school year. He said he is hoping the fuel costs will moderate but that it is not likely with winter coming on. Kurczek also reported receiving $104,000 in alternative learning environment funds and said a second payment will be coming later in the year. In other business, Kelly Hankins, director of academic success, gave the student success report to the board and said she was particularly pleased with the school's partnership with the Highlands United Methodist Church. She said the church had been a real blessing as members had brought three loads of food for the school's food pantry. Superintendent Maribel Childress gave the first quarter district goals report and the full-time equivalent report. The full-time equivalent report, given at the request of the board, outlines each teacher's class load and what courses each one teaches. Childress reported in regard to goals achieved that the school has made more than 1,300 personalized contacts with students and school patrons.

-- Susan Holland

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the first round of a new grant that will fund Energy improvements in schools.
The Renew America’s Schools grant program provides a total of $500 million in funding. The first round of grants will provide up to $80 million for schools to install Energy efficient lighting and HVAC systems, improve the insulation of their buildings, switch to electric vehicles, and convert facilities to renewable Energy sources like solar and wind.
The grant program was included in the $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that President Joe Biden signed Nov. 15. While it touches on key priorities of green building advocates, the grant falls far short of the $100 billion in new federal funding for school infrastructure Biden originally proposed.
The Energy Department “is working diligently to deploy these critical funds so that schools can start turning infrastructure improvements into healthier learning environments and big cost savings, as soon as possible,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said in a statement Tuesday.
Here’s what you need to know.
 

-- Evie Blad

New York City will commit billions of dollars to convert 100 fuel-burning public school buildings to cleaner Energy by 2030 as part of an effort to comply with emissions reductions mandated by city law, Mayor Eric Adams announced Friday. The city will spend roughly $4 billion over the next seven years on a plan that includes retrofitting 100 school buildings so they no longer burn fossil fuels for heating. That shift will help bring the city closer to compliance with Local Law 97, which sets limits on greenhouse gas emissions that buildings must adhere to starting in 2024. Adams also announced that every new school building, including those already under construction, will be fully electric, putting the city slightly ahead of schedule on a separate 2021 city law that effectively bans gas in new construction starting in 2024. Newly constructed public school buildings must be fossil fuel-free beginning in 2025 under that law. “Every New York City school we build going forward will be fully electric,” Adams said Friday at a press conference in P.S. 5 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which will be the first to get retrofitted under the new plan. “No more boilers, no more burning dirty fuel, no more contributing to asthma.”

-- Michael Elsen-Rooney

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), today released a Notice of Intent (NOI) announcing $80 million from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to make K-12 schools more Energy efficient and lower their Energy costs, including some of the nation’s highest-need schools. The funding is the first tranche of the Renew America’s Schools grant program created by the infrastructure law to provide schools critical Energy infrastructure upgrades.   Through the grant program, DOE will fund Energy and health improvements in public K-12 schools across the country. Additionally, a new DOE prize program will help resource 25 high-need school districts with the training and tools needed to improve how their schools consume Energy. Through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these investments will address the historic inequities of school facilities, reduce school Energy costs, and improve health and learning outcomes for children and staff, while also supporting the promise of bringing good-paying jobs to the community.  

-- Staff Writer

Today, Vice President Harris will provide a six-month progress report on the Biden-⁠Harris Action Plan for Building Better School Infrastructure, outlining a series of actions from across the Administration to upgrade our public schools with healthy, safe, sustainable facilities and transportation. In Seattle, Washington today, Vice President Harris and EPA Administrator Michael Regan will join schoolchildren, parents, district leaders, and community members to announce nearly $1 billion in rebate awards from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to replace existing aging school bus fleets with clean buses. Since the Action Plan was first announced in April 2022, the Administration has secured new historic legislative accomplishments that build on progress that’s been made to deliver safer, healthier, and more environmentally sustainable learning environments for America’s children, while saving school districts money, creating good jobs, and combatting climate change. In addition to the clean school bus rebate awards, other actions announced today include upgrading school infrastructure, supporting clean Energy in rural schools, and improving indoor air quality.

-- Staff Writer

The Chula Vista Elementary School District in California has installed an 8.1 MW solar microgrid that is expected to save the district $70 million over the next 25 years.
Located in metropolitan San Diego, Chula Vista is one of California’s largest elementary school districts. More than 28,000 students pass through the doors of 50 schools each year. Forty-six of those schools are now home to solar panels powering the districts’ new microgrid.
School microgrids educate and save money
The solar microgrid project is just one of the efforts the district has made to reduce its carbon footprint and its Energy costs. Chula Vista deputy superintendent Oscar Esquivel said, “Our team has done an outstanding job of continually finding ways to increase Energy efficiency and savings while doing our part to improve the environment.”
He adds that one of the district’s goals is to model the importance of Energy awareness, conservation, and sustainability for its students.
The $32 million solar microgrid project was funded by a general obligation (GO) bond, a type of municipal bond, and was completed by ENGIE North America.
The system includes battery storage and 18,050 solar panels, which are shading school buildings, the Transportation Yard, and the Education Service and Support Center.
 

-- Kathy Hitchens

President Joe Biden issued a major disaster declaration on Wednesday for Puerto Rico, unlocking additional federal assistance as island residents navigate the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi had asked the Biden administration on Tuesday for an expedited declaration, two days after Fiona pelted the island with heavy rainfall and knocked out its fragile power grid.
A feud over whether and how to shift Puerto Rico toward wind, solar and other renewable power is one factor in the years of wrangling over the direction of the territory’s Energy policies.
The American Red Cross said Wednesday during a news conference with FEMA officials that some residents were benefiting from an initiative that installed solar panels and battery systems at about 150 schools at a cost of $40 million after 2017’s Hurricane Maria. Now, after Fiona, more than 50 of these schools are being used as shelters.

-- GLORIA GONZALEZ

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have drawn up a new battle plan in the fight against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in schools.
The new strategy is improving school ventilation following a new CDC survey that shows most schools have not yet upgraded their ventilation systems.
And according to the CDC, there are federal monies available to schools to help with the cost.
Cabell County Schools is getting eight new heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) systems and four of them are going into schools currently being built.
From the outside chiller that creates cold air, to the boiler room that provides heat in the winter, to the classroom where the air students breathe, is an important part of the educational process.
When asked what the difference is between a modern system versus an outdated system, the Cabell County Schools' Energy manager’s answer was simple.
“For lack of a better word, older systems have stagnant air,” Chip McMillan said. “Students are re-breathing the same air all day long.”
With schools back in session, the CDC is urging schools to upgrade their ventilation systems to help keep COVID-19 in check.
 

-- GIL MCCLANAHAN

One school district was able to give pay raises to its teachers as big as 30 percent. Another bought new heating and ventilation systems, all the better to help students and educators breathe easier in these times. The improvements didn’t cost taxpayers a cent, and were paid for by an endlessly renewable source — the sun.
As solar Energy gains traction across the country, one beneficiary have been schools, particularly those in cash-strapped districts contending with dwindling tax bases.
From New Jersey to California, nearly one in 10 K-12 public and private schools across the country were using solar Energy by early 2022, according to data released Thursday by Generation180, a nonprofit that promotes and tracks clean Energy. That’s twice as many as existed in 2015.
The savings in electric bills from schools with solar panels often topped millions in each district, and many have been able to adopt the technology without shouldering any costs up front.
“If you’re conservative, we didn’t ask you for more taxes, if you’re liberal, you love the green concept,” said Michael Hester, the school superintendent in Batesville, Ark., where solar arrays paid for teacher raises. “It’s a win-win.”
In Heart-Butte, Mont., the school superintendent, Mike Tatsey, arranged for three-quarters of the Energy credits generated by the district’s new solar panels to help lower the electric bills of households in the community, located on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. He believed that freeing up extra spending money for staples like groceries and shoes could have a ripple effect in classrooms.
“That little bit, in my mind, might help a family feel better about themselves, and kids feel better themselves,” Mr. Tatsey said. “In a roundabout way, when they come to school, because of that little bit of extra hope we’re able to give, they’ll be ready to learn.”
 

-- Cara Buckley

NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio -- City Council recently approved a partnership with Leopardo Energy that will result in an Energy efficiency upgrade for aging infrastructure.
“When it was brought to our attention that we could utilize a program like this, I thought it was an opportunity to make improvements to our city buildings and infrastructure that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to,” North Olmsted Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones said.
“I like the fact that it would increase our Energy efficiency in the city and bring some jobs here to get the work done. Those are all good things.”
North Olmsted Director of Economic and Community Development Max Upton said Leopardo Energy, a recognized leader in sustainable building practices and early champion of the green construction movement in the Midwest, is currently conducting an Energy audit, which evaluates ways the city can save money by reducing Energy consumption.
 

-- John Benson

School buildings across America are crumbling. According to a 2020 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), 54 percent of U.S. school districts need to update or completely replace multiple building systems in their schools.1 This crisis has only deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as in the face of record-breaking extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change. Historically, public schools have been excluded from federal infrastructure legislation,2 despite representing the nation’s second-largest infrastructure sector.3 In one recent example—although funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) may be used to upgrade school facilities—the president’s requested $100 billion specifically designated for this purpose did not make it into the final version of the IIJA.4 So, while funds from the IIJA and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) are being used in part to improve school facilities—particularly for efforts related to school air quality, school buses, and Energy efficiency—it is noticeably less than the outstanding needs. As a result of decades of underfunding school infrastructure, national spending for K-12 school buildings falls short by an estimated $85 billion annually, as reported by a 2021 analysis from the 21st Century School Fund. Over the next decade, it would cost an estimated $1.1 trillion to modernize and replace obsolete school buildings and systems.5

-- Jamil Modaffari & Akilah Alleyne

FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Fort Smith Public Schools’ Energy conservation success has led to 17 of its buildings earning EPA “Energy Star” certification.
According to a press release from the school district, this recognition is presented to the most Energy-efficient buildings in the country.
“We are extremely pleased to receive this recognition from Energy Star,” said Shawn Shaffer, Executive Director of Facility Operations. “It’s proof we’re operating healthier, more efficient buildings for our students and community.”
“Our Energy conservation efforts are helping protect the local environment,” he added. “Just as importantly, the environmental impact is equal to taking 1,785 cars off the street or planting 126,792 trees in our community. We are proud that our program’s success is being recognized by Energy Star.”
Fort Smith Public Schools buildings earning Energy Star Certification include Beard, Bonneville, Carnall, Cavanaugh, Euper Lane, Fairview, Howard, Orr, Park, Spradling, Sunnymede, Sutton, Tilles, Woods, Chaffin, Ramsey and Northside High School. To earn Energy Star Certification, buildings must rate in the top 25 percent nationwide for Energy efficiency.
The cost of utilities is a large budget line-item for Fort Smith Public Schools, and the prices for electricity, natural gas, heating oil and water have been steadily increasing. Fort Smith Public Schools has reduced its Energy consumption by 25.2%.

-- C.C. McCandless

Albuquerque Public Schools unveiled the Atrisco Heritage Academy High School photo-voltaic and battery storage project on Thursday, Aug. 18. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico joined APS Superintendent Scott Elder and others in learning more about the state's largest public school clean Energy project. Also on hand were APS Board of Education President Yolanda Montoya-Cordova, Atrisco Heritage Academy Principal Irene Cisneros, APS staff who have worked for years on the project, project partners, and other distinguished guests.  The solar panel and battery storage project showcases the latest step toward the district's ultimate goal of safe, Energy-efficient facilities that conserve taxpayer resources while reducing our carbon footprint. More than 2,200 electricity-producing solar panels -- which amounts to about one solar panel per student at AHA -- will generate electricity stored in a Tesla Megapack 2-Energy storage system.

-- Staff Writer

The Long Beach Unified School District has unanimously adopted a policy to implement goals aimed at reducing emissions and moving the district toward the use of clean and renewable Energy.
LBUSD students and community members celebrated when the board approved the policy on Wednesday, Aug. 17. Among them was the Long Beach Green Schools Campaign, a student-led effort to address the climate crisis which has been advocating for the policy since 2020.
"I'm really happy, I think that's an understatement," said Diana Michaelson, an incoming senior at Poly High and founder of the Long Beach Green Schools Campaign. "Happy to have had this opportunity to work with district staff to do this all together, collaboratively."
The formally titled "Green School Operations — Energy and Sustainability Policy" is a revision of the district's original policy adopted in 2019. The updates arose from a collaborative involving the LBUSD facilities department, sustainability team, director of strategic programs and policy, Long Beach Green Schools Campaign, and LBUSD staff.
The revised policy is part of a multi-step approach to address climate change and justice at LBUSD, according to the agenda.
Its three main goals are reducing Energy and water consumption by maximizing use of renewable and clean Energy technologies, ensuring new and replacement machinery is zero-emissions, and reducing vehicle emissions to campuses. The policy also establishes a climate crisis and sustainability task force to hold the district accountable.
 

-- Christina Merino, Press-Telegram

School construction within Park City limits is governed by both the city and the state. The Utah State Board of Education, or USBE, issues what are called project numbers before school districts can begin construction work. Demolition started at Park City High School at the beginning of July – without a project number. The state found out about that this week, and called the district. In response, Park City schools superintendent Jill Gildea said the district would stop work until it provides the state what it needs to issue a project number. The school district sent some required forms to the state Friday. It still needs to provide building and Energy code reviews, a state fire marshal review, a Summit County Health Department review, a storm water permit and proof of coordination with Park City. Scott Jones is deputy superintendent in charge of operations for the USBE. According to Jones, Gildea told state schools superintendent Sydnee Dickson this week that required documents weren’t submitted to the state due to a paperwork backlog within Park City Municipal. “She cited some kind of backlogged paper documentation of what we still need to issue the project number. And we're trying to confirm this," Jones said. "Apparently all of that is subject to backlogs at the city level and that's why this management company from Park City School District or that works for them, JD Stevens, hasn't sent all the documentation we need.”

-- Michelle Deininger

STERLING, Va. - A brand new elementary school opening in Loudoun County is raising the roof on solar Energy. The Elaine Thompson Elementary School is the first school in Sterling to have solar panels built into its design, providing 40 percent of the school's power needs.
"From the environmental perspective, this is an appropriate design model for us to do and to become more Energy efficient," said Tim Sparbaine, the school's principal.
"The Energy we receive is stored from the solar panels just like a battery so where it's sunny outside and we are getting more storage from the Energy to where it's cloudy outside we are getting less storage so that all feeds into the overall electrical operation of our system."
The school is one of four national level award winners. The challenge recognizes new construction projects that are achieving Energy STAR certification for Energy efficient and preventing carbon dioxide emissions.
 

-- Ayesha Khan

Solar panels atop a pair of Wanaque schools are now powering the grid as part of the school district's effort to save some green, district officials announced this week. The 390-kilowatt solar array split among the K-8 district's Wanaque and Haskell elementary schools will produce enough Energy each year to offset 72% of the district's Energy use or approximately 63 homes, according to the district's project partners, Connecticut-based Greenskies Clean Focus and local outfit Pfister Energy. The companies will sell the electricity generated to the district at a reduced rate under a 15-year contract, district records show. First-year savings are estimated at $51,000.

-- David Zimmer

As clean Energy jobs soar across the state, Wisconsin schools are helping their students break into the industry while cutting Energy use in school buildings. A new resolution, which heads to the Milwaukee School Board for a vote Thursday, would push the district to cut greenhouse gas emissions 45 percent by 2030 by investing in clean Energy projects and making school buildings more Energy efficient. School Board President Bob Peterson, school board directors and community leaders spoke at a press conference Tuesday, saying the resolution would help the environment and assist students in finding careers in clean Energy. If adopted, the district would use the projects to teach students about the industry, and dedicate staff and resources toward climate justice education. Citizen Action of Wisconsin Executive Director Rober Kraig spoke at the event in support of the resolution. He said Milwaukee schools have been "starved for resources" and unable to update their buildings to be Energy efficient, "so a huge conversion of this kind would have a big climate impact." "Climate change may be scary, and it is at some level," Kraig said. "But it's also a huge opportunity to rebuild and reinvent an economy that lifts all."

-- Leah Treidler

Joseph Rodman West Elementary, near Washington, D.C.’s Petworth neighborhood, appears not only modernized but resurrected. And the firm behind the new and improved structure is behind several other public buildings in the District of Columbia. Perkins Eastman has renovated at least 14 D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) buildings since the district dedicated $4 billion in 2007 to making its facilities healthier, more Energy efficient, and sound. This one, which the firm completed before the school year in August 2021, aspires to be the world’s first net-zero-Energy, LEED Platinum, and WELL-certified public school. But before its doors opened, it needed a new moniker. In July 2021, Mayor Muriel Bowser approved legislation to rename the building John Lewis Elementary School. Joseph Rodman West was a U.S. senator, a Union general, and a chief executive of the District of Columbia. But in a statement, Bowser said he was much more than that. 

-- Michelle Goldchain

Greenskies Clean Focus and its partner Eznergy Solar Energy Solutions, a New Jersey-based solar developer and EPC, have completed a 490-kW solar portfolio for the Rumson Board of Education. Annually, the 1,225 solar panels at the schools are projected to generate more than 550,000-kWh of clean Energy, offsetting approximately 87-90% of the electricity needs of the individual schools. The rooftop solar installations located at Deane-Porter Elementary School (204 kW) and Forrestdale Middle School (286 kW) will help the school district save on Energy bills over the long term and increase its sustainability profile. “Greenskies is excited to support the Rumson School District in its adoption of renewable Energy,” said Stanley Chin, President and CEO of Greenskies. “Solar provides stable Energy costs and a highly-visible demonstration of the environmental benefits for years to come. Schools are an important component in the transition to clean Energy in New Jersey and across the US.”

-- Staff Writer

EATONTOWN — This summer, the Eatontown Public Schools will begin construction as part of an Energy Savings Improvement Plan (ESIP) project.
The total cost of the project, approximately $5 million, will be funded through Energy cost savings, according to a press release from the school district.
District administrators said the project will not have an impact on taxpayers. They said the work will result in more efficient and reliable heating, cooling and ventilation in all of the district’s classrooms and offices.
The ESIP project will be financed using savings in Energy costs from the installation of solar panels and lighting upgrades, according to the press release.
District administrators said the money saved from these improvements will be invested in replacing all of the rooftop heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) units in the district, which will provide new and more reliable HVAC systems and lead to further improvements of the district’s Energy efficiency.
 

-- Staff Writer

CHESTERFIELD — New Hingham Regional Elementary School is close to fully upgrading its lighting to LEDs, a move that Principal Jesse McMillan said will yield immediate savings for the school. The upgrade is being done as part of Eversource’s Municipal Partnership program. The $74,000 upgrade includes both lighting in and outside of the school, and $18,000 is coming from Eversource. The rest is being paid for by money the school received from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. This money was awarded to New Hingham because it was one of the school’s that suffered at least a 10% drop in enrollment in the pandemic. New Hingham received $62,236 as a result, and McMillan and the School Committee determined it would be best used for capital improvements.

-- Bera Dunau

The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) granted awards to seven Maryland public school districts through its Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) Decarbonizing Public Schools program, totaling more than $700,000. The grants will help finance projects “reducing greenhouse gas emissions and overall lifecycle costs while planning the development of high-performance schools.” Two categories of projects were awarded: Energy data management and net zero Energy school planning.

-- Brianna January

Six schools in Morris County, New Jersey, are installing solar modules that are expected to generate 1.84 megawatts of Energy each year and significantly reduce carbon emissions. The Montville Township Public Schools project is funded by a 15-year solar power purchase agreement (PPA) supplied by Solar Landscape, and SolarEdge is installing the system. The installations are part of an estimated 600 solar projects that have been added to New Jersey schools as part of a program to decarbonize the state’s educational facilities. The PPA allows the school district to install the solar arrays with no upfront investment and will let it purchase the electricity the solar project generates at a lower cost than for Energy that would come straight from the grid. The project is expected to save the Montville Township Public Schools nearly $1 million in Energy costs annually over the next 15 years. It will also reduce carbon emissions by the equivalent of 1,500 tons of coal burned each year. SolarEdge is installing the system and was chosen for the project because of its track record of similar projects at schools, which the companies say aren’t always straightforward. The roofs on older buildings can have obstructions like skylights that can restrict module placement and reduce Energy production.

-- DAVID WORFORD

As part of a district-wide push for increased sustainability, Northside Elementary/Coulee Montessori is the next school in La Crosse making the shift to solar Energy.
With installation scheduled to begin later this summer, the school's roof will include a network of 292 solar panels capable of generating 20 percent of the school's Energy needs. District administrators, elected officials and leaders of the project gathered Monday to celebrate meeting their funding goal and announce future projects.
Leadership and staff from Solar on La Crosse Schools (SOLS) also attended the celebration event. The organization partners with the school district to coordinate fundraising efforts and to help strategize for solar installation.
"Schools use about 43 percent as much power as all of the office buildings in the United States, said Ben Golden, a member of the SOLS leadership team. "It's a great place to start when we're thinking about clean Energy."
The projected reduction in carbon emissions created by the solar panels is equal to planting around 160,000 trees and will save around 7 million pounds of coal, Golden said.
Northside Elementary relies on a geothermal heating and cooling system, meaning it requires twice as much electric Energy as other similar buildings. This made it a prime candidate for solar Energy use, according to Mike Freybler, the Energy and transportation manager with the La Crosse School District.
 

-- Abbey Machtig, La Crosse Tribune

The city’s aging school buildings, which spew out the same volume of carbon dioxide emissions as 154,000 cars each year, will be a key battleground in efforts to reduce air pollution and boost clean Energy across city, advocates say. The more than 1,800 public and charter schools overseen by the city occupy buildings that are 70 years old on average, and many are equipped with outdated heating and cooling systems that are both inefficient and emission-producing, Energy advocates claim. “The emissions are huge. We’re spending a ton of money on Energy; it’s building stock we control as a city. It’s a huge opportunity to improve school infrastructure … and create union jobs,” said Dave Hancock, executive director of Climate Jobs New York, whose group authored a May report calling on the city to adopt an aggressive clean Energy plan for schools. “It just makes a lot of sense.” City officials have ramped up their solar Energy efforts in recent years, building panels on the rooftops of 110 city facilities, including 60 school buildings, that produce 16 megawatts of Energy a year — enough to power 2,600 homes.

-- Michael Elsen-Rooney

WAYNE COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) - The Wayne County School District is making improvements to school facilities this summer. All campus buildings will receive new air units with clean air handlers for better ventilation. Additionally, the district will replace some of the old windows with new tinted windows, increasing Energy efficiency and making the classrooms more pleasant. Every classroom will also receive new smart panels and new chrome books. The stated goal of the project is to ensure each student is provided with a safe and comfortable learning environment as they continue getting their education. The $7 million project funded through grants from Elementary & Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER) and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

-- Eddie Robertson

In September of 2021, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the allocation of $59 million to fund the Clean Green Schools Initiative. The program aims to advance clean Energy efficiency solutions and clean Energy to improve indoor air quality and reduce carbon emissions for schools designated as “high-need” by the New York State Education Department or schools located in disadvantaged communities.  The initiative, to be administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), offers a unique opportunity for designated underserved schools to improve their Energy systems. In doing so, eligible schools will receive technical, financial, and human resource support to evaluate, plan for, and implement Energy efficient solutions. In the long run, this will improve school environments and save money. Program Breakdown:
The program is structured in two tracks – Track I for planning, Track II for installation. The planning track provides funding for the evaluation, planning, and facilitation of Energy reduction projects, clean Energy projects, and indoor air quality projects. Schools may use Track I funding for professional services such as Energy studies, on-site Energy managers, and fiscal advisors. The services must be aimed at helping schools evaluate, plan and facilitate comprehensive Energy reduction, decarbonization, environmental sustainability, and indoor air quality projects.  Track I funding may also be used towards planning a project associated with Track II. Participation in Track I is not a requirement for eligibility for Track II.

-- Harris Beach PLLC

If voters approve Measure C, the Sierra Sands Unified School District’s approximately $52.1-million bond measure June 7, the district plans to bring solar power to its schools. “The district, in its facilities master plan, has been studying the possibility of implementing solar at our school sites to offset our costs,” said Superintendent Dr. Dave Ostash. He said the district spends approximately $1 million out its general fund for electricity. “The idea is that it makes sense where we live in a space that has more sunshine than just about anywhere in the country that we ought to harness some of the solar Energy we have here to offset our costs and make a long-term investment in ultimately saving the district money and more importantly reinvesting that money in facilities,” Ostash said. “The concept is to utilize the resources the best we can to purchase and implement solar on as many of our campuses as possible.” He said the district plans to start at Burroughs High School and Murray Middle School, which he said are the district’s biggest users and eventually have solar power at all its schools.

-- John Ciani

Schools that are net zero Energy ready are coming to Miami-Dade as local firm Zyscovich Architects has designed two middle schools in the county that would use technologies to lower Energy consumption and costs. Zero Energy schools are “extremely Energy-efficient buildings that produce as much Energy as it uses over the course of a year,” a document from the US Department of Energy details. Net zero Energy ready schools are designed and built so that on-site renewable Energy can be installed later on with minimal disruption. These buildings can cost 5% to 13% more than conventional schools, but in the long term savings could help cover other operational costs of equal importance. For instance, by annually saving on Energy, school officials could redirect those operating costs to fund teacher salaries, a priority for state and local authorities. “Many US school districts struggle for funding and improving a school building’s Energy efficiency can free up operational funds that may then be available for educational and other purposes,” says the department’s document.

-- Gabriela Henriquez Stoikow

Already a national leader in Energy conservation, Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is moving forward with planning for a solar Energy project that would significantly reduce costs, cut carbon emissions and boost sustainability efforts in the state’s largest city. The IPS Board of School Commissioners approved an agreement with Carmel-based Sun FundED to develop, finance and operate solar Energy systems for the district under the firm’s “Solar-as-a-Service” program. The project would reduce Energy costs by an estimated $45 million over the next 30 years. “Research has consistently shown that solar projects can reduce air pollution and CO2 emissions, and significantly reduce Energy costs,” said Dr. Aleesia Johnson, IPS superintendent. “Under this new partnership, IPS will install solar panels at multiple schools and locations across the district, enabling our schools to utilize clean Energy while at the same time reducing the district’s carbon footprint.” If approved and installed as planned, the project would represent the largest solar Energy project by an educational institution in Indiana history. The project proposes both roof and land based solar installations at 20 schools, and also includes the ability for the district to adopt renewable Energy and sustainability programs for the classroom through SAMI, a digital platform intended to help students understand the financial and technical aspects of solar Energy. Project locations, size and system output will be finalized through the development phase of the project.

-- Staff Writer

“A new study from Trust for Public Land effectively dispels a common misconception among school administrators about the price tag of transforming asphalt-covered and treeless schoolyards into green schoolyards,” according to a press release from TPL. “The study compared the typical cost of building and maintaining a traditional ‘gray’ or asphalt-covered schoolyard in California to a ‘green’ schoolyard (replacing asphalt with more natural green space and infrastructure) over a 20-year period. While gray schoolyards had a moderately lower initial renovation cost ($2.3 million compared to $2.6 million for green schoolyards), they yielded no benefits over time, with schools continuing to sink money into resealing asphalt.” By contrast, green schoolyards bring close to $600,000 in net benefits. These include higher student attendance and staff retention, better academic performance, and savings on Energy costs.

-- Diana Ionescu

MONONA (WKOW) -- The Monona Grove School District made history Saturday as they unveiled the largest solar array to be installed on a K-12 building in Wisconsin to date. The project will replace the coal-fueled electricity that currently powers the school and will supply about half of the building's electrical needs. Krishna Elwell, a sophomore at Monona Grove High School who helped the project come to fruition, said he is proud to see his school mark this major change. "All this started out with an idea, a dream," Elwell said. "Energy is probably one of the most significant ways we can alter the effects of climate change and really create a sense of hope for the next generation, so to have my school doing that and to have the evidence that we can build a future right in front of my eyes--that's just so inspiring to see."

-- Emily Ness

JACKSON, MI - Jackson Public Schools has approved a new proposal to bring solar Energy systems to three of its elementary schools that will provide more savings to the district.
JPS’ Board of Education approved moving forward with a proposal from CLS Sustainable, Inc., during its meeting on May 17, that would install solar Energy systems at Hunt, Dibble and John R. Lewis elementary schools.
Although the school board previously approved a similar 20-year agreement with U.S. Global Energy to conduct the same project scope a year ago, the contract was never executed, Superintendent Jeff Beal said.
CLS Sustainable would provide the same services as U.S. Global Energy under the new agreement, but with more savings to the district, JPS Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Marcus Leon said. The company would own and maintain all the equipment, meaning there is no cost or liability to the district.
The district vetted more solar providers because the company’s long-term Energy rates didn’t yield the return on investment the district was looking for, Beal said. U.S. Global Energy’s previous agreement was 9.75 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to CLS Sustainable’s rate of 9.1 cents.
 

-- Martin Slagter

WILSON — School administrators and students gathered to “Flip the Switch” as they celebrated their newly active solar array on Tuesday morning at Rivercrest High School in Wilson.
The school made its switch to solar only a week after the Riverside School District flipped its switch with the help of Entegrity, as well, on last Tuesday at the East Elementary School in Caraway.
According to a press release from Entegrity, Rivercrest School District has been key in the growth of the communities it serves as it provides quality education to 1,220 students and employment for 125 teachers.
Seeking to catalyze innovation in Northeast Arkansas, the district signed a Solar Services Agreement with Entegrity Energy Partners to build a 1.33 MW DC solar array on land adjacent to the campus and this new solar array will allow the school to save over $98,000 a year on utility and Energy costs, totaling more than $3 million in lifetime savings.
Rivercrest Supt. Mike Cox said that Rivercrest School District wants to continue to be an institution that provides the best environment for students to learn and grow.
 

-- NENA ZIMMER

NORTH BRADDOCK, Penn.—On Wednesday evening, 10th grader Abby Wypych stood in front of Woodland Hills School District’s board and urged them to approve a feasibility study on installing solar panels. “Woodland Hills has provided me with many opportunities to get involved with climate action, which I’m very passionate about,” she said. “As a student with severe asthma, I’m also very concerned about the poor air quality in our region.” Wypych and her co-presenter Lauren Palamara, a youth educator for the climate advocacy nonprofit Communitopia, reminded the board that thanks to student advocacy, Woodland Hills became the first school district in Pennsylvania to pass a climate resolution in 2020. With a goal of having net-zero emissions by 2050, the district has helped educators create climate change lessons for their classrooms, established a climate-friendly food and gardening program, improved recycling and Energy efficiency in school buildings, and students hosted the region’s first youth climate action summit. In 2021, the district won a national “Best of Green Schools Award” from the U.S. Green Building Council. “How do we continue to champion this phenomenal work?” Palamara asked. “Imagine our next news headlines if Woodland Hills takes steps toward becoming a regional leader in solar power.”

-- Kristina Marusic

KIMT News 3 - In 2021, the Minnesota legislative session developed a plan for solar Energy in schools.
Now - the Minnesota Department of Commerce Solar for Schools Program is on track to award nearly $8 million dollars for up to 80 school across the state.
The state is awarding these grants based on the financial need of the school districts.
Around 70 percent of all rural schools in Minnesota fall below the state average for operating referendum dollars.
Schools with the most need can get up to 95 percent of system costs covered, which is up to $114,000.
Once the schools are accepted, they have one year to finish the installation process - which, has been a little but of a challenge.
"Another thing we're dealing with right now is supply chain issues," said MN Dept. of Commerce Jack Kluempke. "We've heard about supply chain issues throughout all the economic sectors that we deal with - Solar's no different. And that's why we put in one of those metrics that they have to have at least ordered the material by a certain date to make sure we get it within a year."
Solar Energy helps reduce electric bills, creates local jobs, and is a homegrown power source for more local economic security.
A requirement for schools to apply to this program - is that they have to include solar Energy into their curriculum. This creates more learning opportunities about solar jobs for students.
 

-- Alex Dederer

Fifteen years ago, Greg Libecci quit his career in sales at Fortune 500 companies to do something good for the planet: make public schools more sustainable. Since 2010, he’s been the Energy and resource manager for the Salt Lake City district, tasked with minimizing the district’s use of Energy and natural gas.
Progress has been slow going.
Libecci initially focused on what he calls “low-hanging fruit"—encouraging staff to turn off lights more often and shutting down HVAC systems during holidays and weekends. When he wanted to make bigger changes, such as replacing or converting fluorescent lights to LED bulbs, administrators told him it would be too expensive, or that it wasn’t the highest priority.
That all changed in early 2020. High school students in environmental clubs started asking him, Why aren’t you doing more to minimize the district’s carbon footprint? After all, as advocates and policymakers are beginning to realize, schools across the country contribute a huge chunk of the harmful emissions that are driving climate change at an increasingly alarming rate.
“I was almost embarrassed,” Libecci said.
Armed with a toolkit from the nonprofit Sierra Club, students crafted a thoroughly researched presentation and arrived at the April 2020 school board meeting with a concrete request: Could the district commit to transitioning its 40-plus buildings to entirely clean Energy by 2030? And eliminate fossil fuels for heating and transportation by 2040?
Two months later, the board unanimously voted yes. That gave Libecci the backing he’d never had before to work with colleagues and students on a plan of action.
 

-- Mark Lieberman

CARAWAY, Ark. (KAIT) - A school district has “flipped the switch” in new efforts to reduce costs and become Energy efficient. The Riverside School District celebrated its newly active solar array on Tuesday. The panels are located on-site at East Elementary School. The project was a partnership between Little Rock-based Entegrity, who together designed and installed the array that would offset 95% of Riverside’s total consumption and save them about $1.5 million over the project’s lifetime, according to a news release. “By deciding to build a solar array, we have found a way to reduce facility costs while being good stewards,” Superintendent Jeff Priest said. “Having this array on school grounds provides students and faculty access to unique learning opportunities and garners the importance of promoting Energy efficiency in our community.”

-- Staff Writer

McClymonds High School will soon be getting a makeover. The West Oakland school, which has occupied the same campus since 1938, is set to receive $65 million over the next three years—part of a $735 million bond approved by Oakland voters in 2020 to modernize and upgrade Oakland Unified school sites. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2024, but community members, school and district officials, and architects must first agree on a vision for the campus revamp.  All those involved agree that the renovation of McClymonds’ campus, located on Myrtle and 26th streets, is long overdue. In addition to needed technology and seismic upgrades, there are environmental and safety concerns to address, including elevated lead levels in the plumbing infrastructure and carcinogens in the groundwater. School and community leaders are hopeful that a modernized campus will also attract more students to McClymonds, where enrollment in recent years has plummeted.  While optimism about the project is high, there are concerns: Some community members worry the funds won’t be enough to realize all of the desired improvements, and that a renovated campus could catch the eye of charter schools looking to expand or relocate. And the level of community engagement in the planning process thus far hasn’t been what many had hoped. “This is not going to be an easy process,” said VanCedric Williams, the school board director for District 3 where McClymonds is located. “We’re all in agreement that McClymonds deserves some new Energy and some new designs. We’re going to continue to push through this conversation.”

-- Ashley McBride

The entrance to Washington, D.C.’s newest elementary school building leads right to an open-space library painted in blue, green and yellow, with a makerspace that hangs above like a treehouse. On the side, a massive touchscreen invites students to tap away at an interactive dashboard with real-time data detailing how the building is performing for a new climate reality.
“Students can see bar charts of how much Energy their building is generating and consuming — for the kitchen, for the mechanical systems, and for the lights,” says Juan Guarin, a sustainability expert at the architecture firm Perkins Eastman. “We also try to use it to teach topics like climate change, social and environmental justice, and human health.”
Guarin is part of the team behind John Lewis Elementary School and the Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, the district’s first net-zero schools — meaning they are supposed to eventually consume only as much Energy as they generate on-site annually. 
Both have sustainability features that prioritize natural lighting and fresh air flow, with expansive windows and a beefed-up ventilation system. Geothermal wells beneath the playground provide heating and cooling. Cafeteria kitchens use electric rather than gas stoves. The city is also in the process of contracting with a solar developer to install photovoltaic panels throughout the rooftops, which will help offset Energy use. 
The new facilities are part of D.C.’s ongoing school modernization effort funded through the city’s Capital Improvement Plan, and their debut this school year comes as the U.S. is increasingly targeting schools for greening efforts.
 

-- Linda Poon

The Cheshire Board of Education has been knee-deep in discussions over future efforts to modernize local school buildings. Last week, the group took a step that should help provide options for sustainability when shovels finally meet dirt. On Thursday, April 21, the BOE voted in favor of modifying language specific to educational specifications for new school buildings that will provide for more design options. The amendment modifies one sentence in the wording pertaining to building systems when constructing new school facilities — important language, officials stated, as the Board and Town Council are considering a multi-million dollar school modernization plan. Originally, the regulation stated that the building systems for new construction would have to be designed in accordance with state and LEED silver rating standards, as well as consideration of renewable Energy resources and net zero emissions. The new language, introduced by Board member Samantha Rosenberg and read aloud by Chief Operating Officer Vincent Masciana, modifies the standards to state: “In addition, utilizing renewable Energy resources including solar and geothermal as well as net zero Energy and/or emissions will be considered in the building design in the context of a 50-year estimated useful life.”

-- Michael Torelli

The Prince George’s County school system is embarking on a climate action plan that would reduce its carbon footprint and offer more robust curriculums on environmental justice. The plan includes 58 recommendations from a work group of students, parents, teachers and administrators and was unanimously approved by the school board Thursday. The recommendations include initiatives that would reduce the amount of food waste and nonrenewable Energy from the school system. The plan also includes adding lessons for students on topics like construction design using recyclable materials. The plan started developing last year after students pushed the board of education to prioritize climate action initiatives. In March 2021, the board passed a resolution that included pledges to run the school system on 100 percent clean-sourced Energy by 2030, and contribute zero landfill waste by 2040.

-- Nicole Asbury

Vermont Business Magazine As Vermont continues its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and seeks to build resilience for future challenges, schools across the state are investing in ventilation systems to improve indoor air quality and make classrooms healthier for students and staff. This spring, the Vermont Agency of Education (AOE) and Efficiency Vermont launched the second round of the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Grant Program, which makes $13.5 million of federal funds available to schools with qualifying projects, through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021. This year’s effort builds on the success of a previous round of IAQ programming, which in 2020 leveraged $17 million in federal funding to help 365 Vermont schools improve indoor air quality through HVAC upgrades and air quality monitoring. As a result, more than 62,000 students and 6,500 teachers now spend time in K-12 schools with improved HVAC systems that bring fresh outside air into the building. More than 140 companies, including contracted engineers and tradespeople, worked on these projects. “Vermont’s experience with COVID-19 demonstrates how important indoor air quality is to student health, safety and ability to learn,” said Secretary of Education Dan French. “Air handling systems often come with high upfront costs, especially when buildings are older, as many of our schools are. This grant program, along with technical assistance from Efficiency Vermont, brings important upgrades to these systems within reach. Studies show that improving indoor air quality mitigates the spread of airborne viruses and leads to better health and education outcomes. This is an important measure that will have wide ranging benefits beyond COVID-19 mitigation.” “Engaging so many schools and contractors within a short period of time, was a substantial undertaking”, French added. “With its statewide platform and decades of experience helping schools invest in Energy efficiency upgrades, Efficiency Vermont has been a valuable partner in this undertaking.” There is strong evidence that improving ventilation and filtration can slow the transmission of infectious diseases like COVID-19. The anticipated eligible projects under the program align with COVID-19-specific guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

-- Staff Writer

Tucked into a $3.6 billion capital plan released by Mayor Michelle Wu this month is a proposal to get the ball rolling on a half-dozen school construction projects across the city, including new elementary schools in Dorchester and Roxbury.
Details are scant, but — if approved — the plan would launch studies on the six projects and could pave the way for a building boom for a school district that has seen few upgrades to its aging facilities in recent years.
The studies, which would cost about $150,000 to $175,000 each, would develop building plans and consider locations, mostly for elementary schools. Some line items include no information beyond the neighborhood and grade levels. More details on the school facilities plan will emerge in the course of the budget process, according to a city spokesperson.
“Every student in Boston deserves to learn in a space that is safe, healthy, Energy-efficient, and inspiring,” the spokesperson said in an e-mail. “Mayor Wu has made it a top priority to invest in our school facilities, and we will have more details to share about the Mayor’s vision for district-wide facilities planning in the coming weeks.”
In total, the plan features $788 million in school spending, including funds from the Massachusetts School Building Authority. It would put the district on pace to hit the $1 billion over 10 years target envisioned in its BuildBPS planning process. It also represents a $47 million increase over district capital spending in the prior five-year plan.
 

-- Christopher Huffaker

Today the U.S. Department of Education named the 2022 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools, District Sustainability Awardees, and Postsecondary Sustainability Awardees. Across the country there are 27 schools, five districts, and four postsecondary institutions that are recognized. These honorees employ innovative practices and policies to reduce environmental impact and utility costs, improve health and wellness, and ensure effective sustainability education. Could your school be the next U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School? Check out these spotlights from the 2022 honorees:  Environmental education and sustainability changes at Crellin Elementary School (CES) began when the school community found historic mining contaminants in the creek behind the school. Not only was CES able to remedy the pollution, but it increased the overall health of the riparian area while creating an outdoor classroom. The environmental education laboratory is an outdoor classroom where students participate in hands-on activities using the wetland, boardwalk, hemlock forest, vernal ponds, meadows, orchard, and adjacent creek. CES’s agriculture program features barns with sheep and hens, with a solar panel to maximize hens’ egg production through daylight provision. The greenhouse employs hydroponics systems. CES has made efficiency upgrades, including building automation, interior and exterior LED lights, double-paned windows, HVAC, and building envelope, leading to an immediate decrease in Energy usage. Low-flow fixtures reduce domestic water consumption and rain barrels provide water for gardens and barn animals.   

-- Staff Writer

"In most school districts, the second-largest yearly expense after salaries is the Energy bill."
That's a quote from Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking earlier this month at an elementary school in Washington, D.C.
She was announcing a new, multibillion-dollar federal push to renovate public schools in ways that are healthier both for children and the planet – and often, that save money too.
The funds are spread across several different agencies and programs. The White House released a toolkit with details:
Heating and cooling upgrades: studies show that schools are on deck to spend $9.7 billion of American Rescue Plan funds to upgrade heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems – something that became top of mind to curb the spread of COVID-19. More efficient HVAC systems could lower Energy costs and emissions.
Cleaner transportation: a $5 billion rebate program from the Environmental Protection Agency that replaces old, mostly diesel-fueled buses. Half the money is specifically for electric buses.
Carbon-free commuting: some of the $90 billion in the Department of Transportation's highway safety funds can be used to help with route planning so more students can walk or bike to school. 
Lower power costs, more light: a $500 million Department of Energy grant program, paid for by the infrastructure law, can be used for things like LED lights, better insulation, and solar panels.
 

-- Anya Kamenetz

A majority of our nation’s school buildings are at least 50 years old. Think about that: the classrooms and other school facilities where our kids spend hours on end, five days a week, are in desperate need of renovations to deal with issues like leaking roofs, broken air-conditioning, mold or mildew issues, and poor air quality. Here in New York City, the situation is even more dire: the average age of our school buildings is 70 years old. This is a crisis for our students, and it’s especially acute in communities of color that have endured generations of underinvestment. The environment in which our students learn affects everything from their test scores to their health and well-being. Old, deteriorating school buildings rely on outdated equipment, pumping tons of carbon emissions into the air. Taxpayers are on the hook for millions of dollars in Energy costs, which nationwide represent the second-highest costs for schools after personnel. We need to get this under control before it’s too late. Fortunately, earlier this week, the White House announced the Biden-Harris Action Plan for Building Better School Infrastructure, a $500 million grant program that will allow states and cities to invest in green retrofits that improve Energy efficiency, air quality, and health outcomes for students across the country. Importantly, these projects will create hundreds of thousands of new, good union jobs across the country, building a pipeline between public schools and union careers that will support strong communities and a just economy for all.

-- Vincent Alvarez, President, New York City Central

FARMINGTON -- The Farmington School Board and school administrators gathered April 8 with school staff and those from the community to celebrate the groundbreaking of the district's new solar arrays.
Located adjacent to Farmington High School on Arkansas 170, the 499-kilowatt array is one of three arrays that will help the district accomplish its goals to operate sustainably and create savings for salary initiatives.
Another array is under construction behind Williams Elementary in Farmington and the third array is part of a 100-acre cooperative installation in Booneville that will serve the city of Booneville and the Farmington and Fayetteville school districts, according to Adam Ness, chief of staff with Entegrity.
In 2021, the Farmington School District partnered with the Arkansas Energy Office to implement an Energy savings performance contract, wherein a state-approved company implements Energy-efficient upgrades that pay for themselves. The School Board chose Entegrity to audit their facilities and implement a tailored scope of work to include LED lighting, solar Energy installations, water conservation measures, new HVAC equipment, HVAC tune-ups, controls upgrades and emergency power generation.
Currently halfway through completion, the project is guaranteed by Entegrity to produce savings of nearly $300,000 annually and more than $6 million over the project's lifetime.
Superintendent Jon Laffoon stated, "This project will bring positive outcomes to our School District and our community for decades to come."
 

-- Staff Writer

OGDEN — Ogden School District is increasingly turning to renewable Energy to power its facilities and save money.
The Ben Lomond High School Athletic Center, which opened in December 2020, is fitted with solar panels and data from the first year of operations shows the shift is paying off, district officials say. Data the district recently crunched shows power generated by the panels, located atop the new facility, offset nearly 97% of its power needs in its first year of operation, through November 2021, surpassing the goal of 92%.
“The system saved the district $10,000 in Energy costs last summer alone indicating that the investment in solar Energy will more than pay for itself in the future,” the district said in a statement.
Placement of the panels represents the extension of a standing Ogden School District Energy-efficiency initiative that dates to 2007. The Mound Fort Junior High School Innovation Center, completed in 2019, was the first district facility fitted with solar panels and they were also placed on East Ridge Elementary, which opened last August. They’re to be placed on Polk and Liberty elementary schools, under construction but to open later this year for the 2022-2023 school year.
 

-- Tim Vandenack

The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) released a Request for Information (RFI) to help decide how best to spend $500 million from the recently passed federal infrastructure law for K-12 public school Energy upgrades.
 
The law makes available grants for Energy improvements that result in a direct reduction in school Energy costs, including improvements to the air conditioning and heating, ventilation, hot water heating, and lighting systems. Funding would also support renovation and repairs that lead to an improvement in teacher and student health. 
 
Many schools are in desperate need of Energy improvements, according to a DOE news release. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s 100,000 public K-12 schools a D+ in their 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure report.
 

-- PETER FABRIS

COVID-19 brought to light many worsening issues in education and school facilities, among them poor indoor air quality due to older school infrastructure. 
To begin to remedy that, Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday announced an action plan to put $500 million toward upgrading public school facilities to be more cost- and Energy-efficient. The funding is through the Build Back Better Act, a bipartisan infrastructure law passed Nov. 19. 
The administration is also encouraging districts to use American Rescue Plan dollars toward improving their HVAC systems.
In mid-March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched the Clean Air in Buildings Challenge as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to improve ventilation in schools and other buildings. 
A fact sheet on the EPA initiative outlines four steps:
Create an action plan by assessing indoor air quality and making plans for upgrades and improvements to related systems like heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
Bring in and circulate clean outdoor air into indoor spaces.
Enhance air filtration and cleaning via a central HVAC system and in-room air cleaning devices.
Engage local communities in an action plan to improve indoor air quality and health outcomes.
 

-- Anna Merod

MEDWAY -- The town's public school department will receive $99,094 to support Energy efficiency projects through a Department of Energy Resources (DOER) Green Communities Competitive Grant, officials recently announced.
The funds will be used at Medway Middle School, McGovern Elementary School and Burke-Memorial Elementary School to install ventilation controls in the cafeteria at each school.
Currently, the exhaust and supply fans in the cafeterias run at 100% power from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, regardless of cooking activity. The makeup air from outside must be heated or cooled to bring it back to a comfortable temperature in the cafeteria, which uses significant electricity and natural gas.
With the added controls, the schools will be able to vary the speeds and only use the exhaust and supply fans when cafeteria workers are cooking and need to ventilate the space.
The controls are projected to save approximately $7,000 annually in natural gas and electric costs, and remove 31 tons of CO2 emissions annually.
The three control systems cost $108,469 in total. The Green Communities grant will provide $99,094, Eversource Energy will provide $6,975 in utility incentives and the district will provide $2,400.
 

-- Staff Writer

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris is announcing the Biden-Harris Action Plan for Building Better School Infrastructure to upgrade our public schools with modern, clean, Energy efficient facilities and transportation—delivering health and learning benefits to children and school communities, saving school districts money, and creating good union jobs. The action plan activates the entire federal government in leveraging investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and American Rescue Plan to advance solutions including Energy efficiency retrofits, electric school buses, and resilient design. The science of learning and development has shown that students need school environments filled with safety, belonging, and health to learn and thrive. Yet many schools rely on outdated heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems that make classrooms less comfortable and may pose health risks to students and teachers exposed to contaminants or particles in the air that can trigger allergies or asthma attacks and potentially spread infectious diseases – including COVID-19. Dirty diesel buses pose additional health risks for students on board and the neighborhoods they travel through — and exhaust from idling buses can pollute the air around schools. Studies show that poor air quality inside classrooms takes a toll on student concentration and performance, and diesel exhaust exposure is linked to increased school absences. Reducing this pollution will provide better health and educational outcomes — particularly in low-income communities and communities of color that have long faced underinvestment and the burden of high pollution.

-- Staff Writer

The Biden administration is offering new grant funding and other resources to help school districts plan sorely-needed investments in the nation’s dilapidated school buildings and buses—though the offerings fall well short of schools’ needs.
The announcement comes just one week after the administration’s latest federal budget proposal, which does not include a previously proposed investment of $100 billion in grants and bonds for K-12 school infrastructure. Congress last year considered a similar investment as part of a broader infrastructure spending package, but lawmakers eventually excised public schools from their priority list as well.
This week the federal government announced new funding that amounts to half of 1 percent of those proposals.
A Department of Energy grant program will funnel $500 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by Congress last November for school districts to spend on priorities, including:
comprehensive Energy efficiency audits and building retrofits,
HVAC and lighting upgrades,
clean Energy installation, and
training for staff to maintain these improvements long-term.
Rural and high-poverty schools will get priority consideration from the agency.
America spends $110 billion a year on school infrastructure, but that hefty sum falls $85 billion short of the necessary benchmark to fully modernize school buildings nationwide, according to a 2021 report from a coalition of school infrastructure advocates.
Leaky roofs, moldy ceilings, flooded classrooms, suffocating heat, and overcrowded hallways are a fixture of the scenery for millions of America’s K-12 students, particularly in rural and low-income areas. Many school buildings that haven’t been renovated for decades can’t easily be upgraded because they weren’t built for modern equipment.
 

-- Mark Lieberman

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, as part the new Biden-Harris Action Plan for Building Better School Infrastructure, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a Request for Information (RFI) for a $500 million grant program from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for K-12 public school Energy upgrades. The program will help deliver cleaner and healthier classrooms, libraries, cafeterias, playgrounds, and gyms where over three million teachers teach and 50 million students learn, eat, and build friendships every day. Energy upgrades to America’s public schools, including leveraging renewable power sources and electric school buses, will bring the nation closer to President Biden’s goal to build a net-zero economy by 2050.  “Children should be able to learn and grow in environments that are not plagued with poor insulation and ventilation, leaky roofs, or poor heating and cooling,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “President Biden fought for these funds to give schools and their communities the resources they need to improve student and teacher health and cut Energy costs, allowing districts to focus more resources on student learning.” 

-- Staff Writer

WESTBURY, NY, US, March 31, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Westbury Union Free School District, with project partner Energia, announces the start of construction for their district-wide Energy Performance Contract. The district will generate guaranteed Energy savings of at least $395,000 annually, which in conjunction with State Building Aid, and ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds, will be used to fund over $12 million in capital improvements to district facilities at no out-of-pocket cost to taxpayers. "I believe every child deserves a World-class education experience while enrolled at Westbury Union Free School District, and we know classroom environment can have a big impact on student learning,” said Dr. Tahira A. DuPree Chase, Superintendent of Schools. “By engaging in an Energy Performance Contact, with our partners Energia, we will be able to upgrade our facilities, resulting in more comfortable classrooms - all at no additional cost to taxpayers. Additionally, we are adding solar sustainable Energy, reducing our carbon footprint, and furthering our positive impact in the world."

-- Deborah Jerome

A recently completed solar project in Livermore Falls is the first in Maine to provide most (96%) of its solar Energy to public schools in the state. The 14,040-panel array is expected to produce roughly 6,478,200 kilowatt hours of clean Energy annually, offsetting more than 6,348,000 pounds of carbon pollution from regional fossil fuel power plants each year, according to a March 22 news release from ReVision Energy. ReVision partnered with Aligned Climate Capital, an investment firm focused exclusively on clean solar Energy and other sustainable assets, to bring the project to Western Maine. Mt. Blue Regional School District (RSU 9), Spruce Mountain School District (RSU 73), Camden Rockport School District (SAD 28), Camden Hills Regional High School (Five Town CSD), and Hope Elementary School (Union 69) have all taken steps to reduce their carbon footprint by participating as ‘off-takers’ from the array under what is called a power purchase agreement, the release said. Ninety-six percent of the clean Energy produced by the array will go to toward offsetting the schools’ Energy needs, with the remaining four percent going to Farmington Water District. Solar power generated by the array will offset the electric bills of the off-takers through Maine’s Net Energy Billing program.

-- Staff Writer

Living in harmony with the land and sea has been a pillar of Hawaiian culture for centuries. But you wouldn’t think it if you’d visited one of Hawaii’s 270 public schools. Stark lighting, stiflingly hot classrooms, and loud air conditioners are the norm, much like in the rest of the country. Many of Hawaii’s public schools were built decades ago with insufficient funds and a lack of good natural ventilation for the tropical climate. As a result, the Hawaii Department of Education is the third largest electricity consumer in the state. But in other areas, Hawaii has been a leader when it comes to going green. In 2015, it was the first state to set a deadline to run completely off renewable Energy by 2040, and it’s still on track to achieve that goal. Now, Hawaii’s public schools are starting to be redesigned so that they align with the surrounding climate. Future-proofing, or passive design, is an ancient technique that leverages natural elements to build comfortable structures. Today, passive design focuses on creating tight, Energy-efficient building “envelopes” that work with the local climate and rely less on air conditioning or electric heating. This doesn’t just reduce Energy usage, but it also lowers utility costs. Hawaii has a fairly stable climate—Honolulu rarely drops below 65 degrees Fahrenheit. This makes it an ideal place to implement climate-responsive designs that other schools across the country can learn from.

-- KATHLEEN WONG

QUINCY – The city will apply for money from the state School Building Authority's accelerated repair program to fix windows, roofs and boilers at five Quincy schools in the coming year. 
Councilors this week approved submitting applications for repairs at Broad Meadows and Point Webster middle schools, as well as Wollaston, Montclair and Parker elementary schools. 
Quincy Public Buildings Commissioner Paul Hines called the projects "relatively simple" and said they  are needed mainly for Energy conservation. If the state approves any of the projects, Hines will go  back to the city council and ask for money for the city's share of the costs. 
Roof repairs are needed at Broad Meadows Middle School, as well as the 110-year-old Wollaston and Montclair elementary schools.
Point Webster's windows need an upgrade. The middle school was built in 1917 and, though renovated and refurbished in 1998, the windows have never been replaced.
 

-- Mary Whitfill

HOPE, Ark. – The Hope Public Schools Board of Education, Entegrity Partners and community members recently gathered for a Flip the Switch ceremony to celebrate a first for Southwest Arkansas public schools: an on-site solar array. Located across from Clinton Primary School, the 1.13 MW-DC array will offset approximately 80% of the District's annual electrical Energy consumption. "The Board and Administration saw an opportunity to reduce utility costs and use that savings to invest in their facilities; ultimately leading to a greater learning environment for students," said John Coleman, Regional Director of Entegrity, in a news release. Solar production is part of the comprehensive Energy savings project with Entegrity. The full scope of work, including LED lighting, water conservation, HVAC system upgrades and the array is expected to save HPS over $200k annually. Entegrity's sustainability experts are incorporating education components at HPS to give students exposure to solar at the fifth and sixth grade levels.

-- Andrew Bell

Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools is getting high marks for low Energy consumption throughout the district. At a February 28 study session, members of the district’s school board heard from mechanical engineer Margaret Bishop, who presented an analysis of the district’s Energy use. According to Bishop, the district’s Energy consumption has been on a downward trend, dropping by nearly 19% since the 2012-13 school year. “Clearly there is a significant reduction in Energy consumption, which means you are saving Energy and, in turn, dollars,” said Bishop. “I work with a lot of school districts and these are truly amazing numbers. Staff have done a wonderful job.” In addition, all of the district’s schools have earned an Energy Star score of 75 or higher on the Environmental Protection Agency’s 1-100 scale, which indicates that they perform better than at least 75% of similar buildings nationwide.

-- Staff Writer

DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) - The Dubuque Community School District will be installing more than 200 solar panels on the roof of a local elementary school in an attempt to reduce Energy costs. District leaders say the project will eventually pay for itself, and then save money overall with reduced Energy costs. The district has been looking into the idea of saving Energy costs through solar panels for years. In fact, district leaders started a pilot program back in the 2019-2020 school year in one of the district’s buildings. Kevin Kelleher, the district’s chief financial officer, said, through installing solar panels and LED lights on a district building, the district were able to save around $900 a month on Energy. He said, for that reason, they decided to expand the project to school buildings. They will start with elementary schools, specifically Sageville Elementary, because they are smaller buildings.

-- Fernando Garcia-Franceschini

The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) announced the launch of the Decarbonizing Public Schools Pilot Program to expand the capacity of local education agencies (LEA) for managing Energy data, reducing operating costs, and for inserting Energy performance criteria into capital improvement planning.
The Decarbonizing Public Schools Pilot Program was developed by MEA and the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC) to “foster LEAs’ long-term capacities for Energy management and net zero Energy (NZE) school design and construction, where the total amount of Energy used is equal to or less than the amount of renewable Energy created.”
Notably, the program provides $2 million in state funding from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund to help local school systems develop and expand their capacity to address ongoing Energy challenges and opportunities for controlling costs through data management, as well as adopting cost-effective net zero Energy design considerations for public school portfolio planning.
“MEA has been helping make Net Zero Energy schools a reality, having recently supported three projects, including the Holabird and Graceland Park/O’Donnell Heights schools in Baltimore City and Wilde Lake Middle School in Howard County,” said Dr. Mary Beth Tung, Director of MEA. “Early lessons from these projects indicate lifecycle operating costs can be greatly reduced when sound Energy management and design principles are incorporated early in project identification and design.”
A total of $2,000,000 is anticipated to be available for distribution to grant participants between AOI.1 and AOI.2. The amount awarded may vary depending on the quantity and quality of applications received.
 

-- Brianna January

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Irving Middle School and Belmont Elementary may be the two Lincoln Public School buildings with an Energy Star certification sticker on the front door, but they couldn’t have done that without a district-wide effort. “We are a large organization in the Lincoln community. We have a lot of facilities, we consume a lot of resources”, says Sustainability Coordinator Brittney Albin. “We want to operate efficiently and sustainably, just like any other organization.” LPS was able to boost its efficiency quite a bit, partially due to upgrades brought about by the 2014 bond issue. A key component of that expenditure was a pivot to geothermal Energy being used in the HVAC systems at Irving and Belmont. “The initial investment is usually the higher one, but the paybacks are very quick”, says LPS Director of Operations Scott Wieskamp. “We spent a lot of time studying that system 25 years ago, and we’ve really implemented it across the district. We only have two buildings that are not geothermal at this point in time.”

-- Nathan Greve

COVINGTON COUNTY, Miss. (WHLT) – The Covington County School District (CCSD) approved the use of the Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC) program to create efficiency upgrades.
The school district will also use allocations from the Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund to create improvements to schools.
CCSD is partnering with Entegrity to complete the upgrades. In December 2021, the School Board approved the decision to replace 95% of the district’s HVAC systems, to install LED lighting and to implement 439 ionization units to reduce the spread of COVID. CCSD leaders said the upgrades will create a guaranteed $135,000 in savings each year.
Additionally, five of the district’s unconditioned gyms will receive new HVAC systems, window upgrades and ionization units.
 

-- Rachel Hernandez

With the increasing cost of Energy, focusing on Energy efficiency remains a priority for the North Branch Area School District. During the North Branch Area School Board meeting Feb. 10, Superintendent Sara Paul described how the district continues to commit resources to district priorities. “We have to constantly be looking at what’s happening behind the scenes in terms of how we’re maintaining and continuing to look at the needs of our facilities,” Paul said. Director of Buildings and Grounds Art Tobin, described how it takes a team effort to maintain school facilities. “It starts here. And it starts with the school board, it starts with my co-workers, we discuss and haggle back and forth,” Tobin said. “It starts with the workers, boots on the ground when we’re doing this, and it also starts with contractors. It’s not them against us; it’s a team that we’re looking at.”

-- Rachel Kytonen

On his first tour of Wilde Lake Middle School in Columbia, Christopher Rattay watched a fleet of solar cars whiz up and down the sixth-grade hallway. He would learn from the enthusiastic young operators that they were built for a class project. The new principal knew right away that Maryland’s first net zero Energy school would be a wild ride, that the $34-million facility, which opened in 2017, had the potential to be something special, both as a learning laboratory and a model for school construction.
“The [building] itself is gorgeous and contributes to good health and a sense of emotional well-being,” said Rattay, who was struck by the “open spaces and natural light” in the halls, stairwells and classrooms.
“Net zero Energy [means] any electricity we use is electricity that we produce, whether it’s our solar panels on the roof, or those on the grounds,” said school resource teacher Doug Spicher. He said the construction plan also called for 112 geothermal wells to heat and cool the building, a large array of light and water sensors and other conservation measures. Sunshades and coatings on the windows decrease the amount of sunlight that penetrates the building so school rooms don’t get sweltering hot or cold, Spicher said.
The new school, completed in 2017, is nearly 50% larger and uses 50% less Energy than the building it replaced.
Wilde Lake can also serve 760 students, up from 500 at the previous building. Mariam Abimbola said she was “privileged” to be one of them. Now a junior, she said she made frequent stops at the Energy kiosk in the front hall that streamed environmental data in real time.  “[The display] made you look at the electricity we were using, the electricity we were saving,” she said. “Before that we weren’t really conscious of our Energy use, that we could really do better, and change our ways, at school and at home.”
 

-- Rosanne Skirble

ROBBINSVILLE, NJ - It's been years in the making, but construction is now underway to build solar panels at the Robbinsville Township High School and Pond Road Middle School that could save up to $100,000 in taxpayer dollars. 
In a conversation with TAPinto Hamilton/Robbinsville, School Superintendent Brian Betze said the District is moving quickly to finish construction in order to qualify for tax credits offered by the State of New Jersey. As a result, there is zero cost to the District he said. 
The District has experienced some delays in the project, the superintendent said, including steel shortages. 
Betze said creating these solar arrays are "pretty cutting edge" for school districts. Each of the arrays is a compilation of solar panels grouped together to generate electricity to the Energy system that it is attached. In this case, the arrays will offset Energy costs to the school district.
When the five-array set as well as new security cameras, lighting and paving is completed, parking will be available under the panels. 
During construction at the Robbinsbille High School, some students and faculty have needed to park at Pond and walk 0.4 miles to to their school. Betze himself has been doing the seven-minute walk including in some of those colder brisk days. 
 

-- ELIZABETH A MEYERS

NEW YORK — New York City schools are harnessing solar technology to power buildings and engage students.
Solar panels blanket the rooftops of 60 public schools, providing clean Energy for the city and giving students a chance to learn about climate change and renewable Energy up close.
At Thomas Edison High School in Queens, a recently-completed solar installation generates enough electricity to meet 65% of the school’s Energy consumption — while also providing a unique learning opportunity for students enrolled in the school’s solar Energy vocational track.
“There’s a newfound interest in our curriculum,” said principal Moses Ojeda. “Now with the addition of solar panels, they [the students] start to see the relevance.”
The program at Edison is part of what officials at the city Education Department and Department of Citywide Administrative Services say has been a mutually beneficial partnership.
In 2016, the Administrative Services Department began surveying city-owned buildings to find spaces suitable for installing solar panels, with the goal of producing 100 megawatts per year of solar Energy by 2025.
So far, the city has built solar panels on 110 buildings, including 60 schools, producing 16 megawatts of Energy a year — enough to power 2,600 homes.
 

-- Michael Elsen-Rooney

With the help of a new rooftop solar panel installation at Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education High School in Jamaica Hills, Queens, New York City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) and Department of Education (DOE) announced that the city has achieved a key milestone in generating solar powered clean Energy.
The rooftop installation at the school and other city properties will generate 16 megawatts (MW) of solar power annually – enough electricity to power 2,600 homes each year. The installation at Thomas A. Edison high school alone will generate 579 kilowatts (kW) of electricity, enough to offset 65% of the school’s electrical use. The installation will also serve as an educational tool for students to learn about green Energy alternatives, climate change and careers in the solar industry.
“Solar installations on our public schools help the City reduce emissions while providing valuable learning opportunities for students,” said NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services Commissioner Dawn M. Pinnock. “New York City is leading the way by generating clean Energy on City properties and is on target to reduce emissions from government operations 50% by 2030.”
The solar panels at Thomas A. Edison high school are now one of 60 such installations located at NYC public schools. With this addition, NYC now receives a collective 75% of its solar Energy from installations on public school facilities. 
 

-- Isabel Song Beer

Phenomena such as digitization or Energy efficiency have completely changed the way in which a large number of public spaces are designed or built in our country in recent years or decades. Buildings such as hospitals, sports facilities or educational centers welcome a large number of advances in their construction and maintenance that, a priori, make them more sustainable and efficient. In the case of schools, the implementation of this digitization and new construction techniques has not reached all communities equallyand there are still too many of them with outdated infrastructures and, what is worse, highly harmful to the health of the little ones. In recent years, various specialists in environmental health have focused on the presence of asbestos in schools and institutes, especially those built in the 70s and 80s. And this substance, banned since 2002 and whose useful life It is between 30 and 35 years old, it becomes highly carcinogenic and not only if it is handled, but by the mere fact of being exposed to it continuously. For this reason, David Abolafio, manager of Amisur, a company specializing in the detection and removal of asbestos, gives us some simple keys to find out which are the areas or infrastructures where there is a greater probability of finding asbestos and, even more importantly, what steps we must take to remove it as soon as possible and safely.

-- Staff Writer

BYRON — Byron Public Schools is looking into the possibility of increasing its dependence on renewable Energy with the help of some new state funding.
On Tuesday, the school board held a study session and met with Rich Ragatz, the vice president of business development for the company Ideal Energies. Although the board didn't make any decisions at the meeting, they discussed adding solar panels to the district's high school.
If the district does move forward with the project, they could do so in a couple different ways. Both options fall under the recently developed Solar For Schools Grant Program.
"Established by the state Legislature in 2021, the Solar for Schools Grant Program is designed to stimulate the installation of solar Energy systems on Minnesota public schools," the Department of Commerce's website reads.
Byron became eligible for the funding through an equation that took into account the school district's adjusted net tax capacity and its number of students.
One of the two programs would award the district up to $102,000. The district wouldn't have to pay for the installation or the materials and it would get a 40% discount on the Energy produced by the panels for 20 years. After that, it would have full access to the Energy they produce.
It would require approximately 5,000 square feet of space.
"You'll end up with about a $350,000 net savings over the life of the system," Ragatz said.
Another option, which is still be developed, would earn the district a given amount for each kilowat hour of power created through the panels.
 

-- Jordan Shearer

Last April, Miami Dade County Public Schools adopted a resolution calling for the use of 100% clean Energy by 2030. Seven months later, monopoly utilities began pushing for state legislation that would destroy opportunities for rooftop solar. State lawmakers are debating this issue right now — and our schools’ precious resources hang in the balance.
Florida schools spend over a half billion dollars each year on electricity. Energy costs are their second-biggest expense. In Miami-Dade, the school district is one of the top five Energy consumers.
Schools can no longer afford to ignore the Energy-producing potential of their spacious rooftops. Fully transitioning to rooftop solar by 2030, combined with simple Energy-efficiency strategies, could save Miami-Dade schools $100 million every year, as one example.
The bill, SB 1024/HB 741, filed by Sen. Jennifer Bradley and Rep. Lawrence McClure, would destroy the immense benefits that rooftop solar offers all Floridians. That’s because it would effectively eliminate net metering — a vital policy to rooftop solar that exists in almost every state.
 

-- Michele Drucker - Opinion

SMITHFIELD – Improvements to the Boyle Athletic Complex will include $25,765 in upgrades to bring Energy savings and Rhode Island Department of Education reimbursements to the district.
During the Jan. 12 Town Council meeting, the council approved entering a performance contract with Honeywell Energy Solutions for Energy efficiency investments at Smithfield High School and Gallagher Middle School that will result in lower water and electricity usage.
In addition to adding Honeywell’s suggested work to the project, the Town Council approved the addition of removing and replacing HVAC units at SHS and GMS as part of the Boyle Athletic Complex upgrades, at a cost of $24,000.
Town Manager Randy Rossi explained that by combining both the HVAC units and Honeywell improvements with the Boyle Athletic Complex renovations, the projects will receive RIDE reimbursements in addition to Energy savings.
“It increases reimbursement for the overall project. It’s important to include those items,” Rossi said to The Valley Breeze & Observer. “It gives us more bang for the buck.”
Honeywell’s John Bonavist explained that a preliminary report found capital improvement Energy savings projects including HVAC, boiler upgrades, lighting and more.
 

-- JACQUELYN MOOREHEAD

OSWEGO — Oswego City School District administrators and board of education members are considering a proposed $4.6 million Energy efficiency project that would bring upgrades to lighting fixtures, building insulation, and other mechanical and building-control software enhancements. The 18-year project — devised by Siemens Building Technologies engineers based on Oswego City School District (OCSD) building evaluations, as well as the district’s periodic building condition survey — could result in Energy and operational savings of up to $5.86 million over that time frame, according to John Partsch, a senior account executive with the company.  Partsch and Siemens engineer Christopher Gump presented the project to board of education members at a Tuesday meeting. The review of the district’s Energy efficiency is part of the district’s overall efficiency evaluations, which also feature inquiries into educational program offerings, transportation efficiency and financial efficiency. As proposed, the Energy performance contract would reflect a lease-purchase agreement. Partsch noted that the final cost for the project, including what he called a “conservative” interest rate of 3.5 percent, would total $6.7 million over the 18-year timeline. “It is really a high estimate, but not really knowing where inflation is going and where the market is now, we would like to be conservative for now,” Partsch said of the interest rate. “This is not a hard number.”

-- EDDIE VELAZQUEZ

WLOS — Every year North Carolinians spend millions on North Carolina Education Lottery tickets hoping for a winner.
For years, lottery advertising has featured school superintendents and leaders, expressing their gratitude, making it clear a portion of revenues made from the sales of those tickets go towards public education.
A News 13 investigation set out to find just what projects area school systems are using those funds for.
Education lottery ads highlight scholarships and millions in donations that go to help build schools. However, lottery officials confirm, there’s never been an ad campaign on projects such as the $250,000 weight room at Madison High School or the over $1 million recently spent on new turf projects in Haywood County, all paid for with lottery money.
News 13 found that many districts are also spending millions of lottery dollars towards athletic repair projects, from synthetic turf to tennis courts and swimming pools. All the projects are allowed according to state education reports.
Last October, Buncombe county’s School Board voted unanimously to use $875,000 in Education Lottery funds for new stadium and baseball field lights at AC Reynolds.
The North Carolina Athletic Association made a ruling that stadium lighting levels must meet their standards in order for a school to host a state playoff game," said Tim Fierle, facilities director for Buncombe schools. "ACRHS was scheduled to have its lights replaced with Energy-efficient led lights. The schedule moved up due to this requirement.”
Whether it’s stadium lights or a new school roof, all lottery project requests must get approved by a school district’s county commission, and North Carolina’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI).
A spokeswoman for DPI couldn’t provide any projects submitted by any district that had ever been turned down. “Rejections are very rare,” said Blair Rhoades, spokeswoman for DPI. “Districts contact our office on the front-end regarding eligibility or questions surrounding the application, this is typically a non-issue.”
 

-- Kimberly King

If it wasn't for the parts shortage brought on by the pandemic, Morenci Area Schools would be further along in the district's project to install more Energy-efficient lighting and heating and cooling equipment and it would be seeing lower utility bills.
Still, the district is expecting to complete the project by the end of 2022. The upgrades are expected to save more than $1.4 million in Energy and operational costs over 10 years.
The $1.4 million in improvements are being funded by a state of Michigan Energy bond, district general funds and federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. The ESSER funds are part of the federal COVID-19 relief funds approved by Congress in 2020. The bond has a 13-year payback schedule.
"The district is going to see those savings way past the payback schedule, so the general fund is going to be better because of it," district finance director Erica Metcalf said.
That will free up funds to pay for other things down the road.
The district had about $500,000 in general fund and ESSER funds to put toward the project and Metcalf worked with Standard & Poors to improve the district's bond rating, Superintendent Mike McAran said. Both helped lower the bond amount.
 

-- David Panian

PARKERSBURG — Three Wood County schools have earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star certification for superior Energy performance, officials announced this week.
Parkersburg and Parkersburg South high schools and Jackson Middle School have received the Energy Star designation for 2021, outperforming similar U.S. buildings on measures of Energy efficiency, Energy Star representatives said.
“Wood County Schools is proud of the improvements made in our facilities and thrilled to have three of our schools nationally recognized for Energy efficiency,” Wood County Schools Superintendent Will Hosaflook said. “Wood County Schools teamed with CMTA Energy Solutions beginning in 2020 to evaluate and improve Energy performance in all of our schools. By March 2021, the Energy plan had already resulted in more than half a million dollars in savings for Wood County Schools. The Energy Star designations announced this week show those improvements are continuing and have a direct impact on our Energy usage and cost.”
 

-- Staff Writer

Underserved school districts in Rhode Island will be seeing an influx of funding under the Facility Equity Initiative, Gov. Dan McKee said.
The governor announced in a news release that in working with the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) and with the Office of Energy Resources (OER) and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Opportunity (ODEO), the organizations will work to ensure communities receive an equitable share of $20 million from the 2018 school construction bond in underserved areas.
“This new funding is an important step forward in providing every child in Rhode Island with a modern school facility where they can get an excellent education,” McKee said in the release. “For too long, our funding structures have left our most at-need cities and towns behind, but my administration is working tirelessly to change that. We can give every student in Rhode Island the world-class schools they deserve.”
The Facility Equity initiative, according to the release, is designed to provide funding to five districts that have the highest reimbursement rates. The initiative, which was first announced in October 2021, is a pilot program designed to direct funding to districts that need it most.
Central Falls, Woonsocket, Pawtucket, Providence, and West Warwick school districts will receive a little more than $13 million in funding that will benefit 11,000 students. Funding will be used to construct new science labs, media centers, and community rooms, the release says.
 

-- Brett Addleman

DULUTH — During the past three years, a group of Ordean East Middle School students have been researching, learning and lobbying the Minnesota Legislature. Their passion is solar power. The club started when some of the founding members entered into an international video competition through Climate Smart Municipalities . They worked with students from Germany to make videos about solar power and how it would apply to their schools. This led to the group of girls starting the Duluth Climate Club in hopes of reducing the carbon footprint of Duluth Public Schools. “Once we decided we wanted to work on solar panels, we made this whole presentation,” said Leila Hoeschen Ehrbright, a freshman at East High School. “We did a bunch of research and talked to people and really dug deep about what it would look like to get solar for our school.”

-- Adelle Whitefoot

SARCOXIE, Mo. — Installation will begin this spring on the largest solar project at a school district in Missouri. A Springfield company, Solera Energy, is preparing to install an 911-kilowatt array on the roofs of school buildings in Sarcoxie. It will include 2,025 solar panels on the Wildwood Elementary and the high school and junior high buildings. Work is expected to begin in March on a project that officials say could save the district more than $130,000 a year on its electric bill. Sarcoxie Superintendent Phil Lewis said the project won’t cost the district any money upfront, and he estimates it could save $4 million over the 30-year lifetime of the contract with Solera. “They have investors that back this whole project up,” Lewis said. “Basically we will … pay a fixed amount every month to Solera for the Energy we produce from the solar panels. “We’ll have a fixed 1.75% increase each year, and that’s almost unheard of when it comes to rate increases.” Lewis said Solera approached the school district at the suggestion of a couple of the company’s employees who live in Sarcoxie and have students in Wildwood Elementary. Those installers approached Wildwood Principal Dusty Feather, who then came to Lewis and suggested the administration and the school board look into solar power.

-- John Hacker

The Paducah school board approved an agreement with Ascendant Facility Partners Monday for a guaranteed Energy savings contract proposal that was approved by the board at its Dec. 9 special meeting. The agreement will be signed after the Kentucky Department of Education approves the agreement. Ascendant Facility Partners is a company that provides full-service Energy and infrastructure solutions and is based in Paducah. The project will involve several city schools and includes renovations and upgrades of water conservation, water heaters, kitchen hood and freezer upgrades, heating, bus clock heater upgrades, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment upgrades, boiler upgrades, lighting upgrades, heat pump upgrades and more. The total project cost is $10.63 million, but Ascendant has guaranteed $5.6 million in Energy savings. The guaranteed $5.6 million in savings can be used to offset some of the cost of the upgrades. The rest is paid through bonding potential through the state. “The scope of the project would be upgrades in lighting across the district except for the Innovation Hub,” Superintendent Donald Shively told The Sun on Tuesday. “So, Morgan, McNabb and Clark (elementary schools) and Paducah Middle. “Then, there are multiple ways to save Energy through building envelopes, changes in water, gas and electric in addition to that. A big item in that is replacing the (heating, ventilation and air conditioning or HVAC) system at Paducah Tilghman High School, which was last replaced in 1998.”

-- David Snow

PROVIDENCE — Four years ago, Rhode Island voters approved a $250-million school construction bond to address decades of neglect, and what one official called a tidal wave of need.  
Now, state officials are proposing a second, $300-million bond that would go before voters on the 2022 ballot. The bond would also provide incentives for early childhood education facilities, career and technical education facilities, and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) facilities. 
The legislation, sponsored by state Treasurer Seth Magaziner, Senators Hanna Gallo and Sandra Cano, and Rep. Brandon Potter, also includes new incentives for Energy efficiency and renewable Energy improvements to public school buildings, and new incentives for school districts to hire local contractors and minority business enterprises on construction projects. 
In 2017, the state Department of Education commissioned an engineering study that identified more than 50,000 deficiencies across the state’s 306 public school buildings. Magaziner led the state’s School Building Task Force, which brought together educators, experts, and community stakeholders to develop a plan to rebuild Rhode Island’s schools. 
The bond has allocated more than $1.7 billion to repair or replace 189 school buildings across 28 districts in Rhode Island.   
 

-- Linda Borg

BRISTOL, Va. — The Bristol Virginia School Board unanimously agreed Thursday night to pay for an Energy performance agreement but will first ask the city to help fund a costlier one. The board heard a presentation from Energy Systems Group, an Indiana firm that is proposing to make improvements at Virginia High School, Virginia Middle, Van Pelt Elementary and the central office. The company offered two options. Scenario three would cost $4.09 million and is expected to generate $2.16 million in Energy savings over 15 years. Scenario two would cost about $5.67 million, and it is expected to generate $2.16 million over 15 years. With either plan, the School Board plans to commit $2 million in federal ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund) funding to offset some of the costs, bringing the cost for scenario two down to $4.48 million and scenario three to $2.55 million. “The board agreed to definitely move through scenario three and gave me the authority to ask City Council about scenario two,” Superintendent Keith Perrigan said after the meeting. Perrigan plans to ask to be included on the agenda for Tuesday night’s City Council meeting but — because the agenda already includes a presentation about potential school funding from Davenport & Co., he isn’t sure whether there is time.

-- David McGee

Forest Edge Elementary School in Fitchburg, Wis., has become the largest net zero verified education project in the United States. The 126,600-sf project features 1,700 solar panels, 90 geothermal wells, and an Energy-maximizing design.
The solar panels are on the building’s roof and, after one year in operation, the panels have provided all the power the school needs to operate. The rooftop solar panels produce 646 kW of Energy in one year and offset CO2 emissions equivalent to 623,249 pounds of coal burned. In addition to being Energy-efficient, the school’s design connects students to the natural environment and leverages its unique features as a teaching tool.
Each section of the school is themed to highlight natural Energy sources: Life, Light, Thermal, and Wind. Viewing areas in the building offer views of the solar panels, vegetated roofs, and geothermal pumps. The library is designed as a “nest” that faces toward the forest adjacent to the school, immersing the students in nature while indoors.
 

-- DAVID MALONE

After several years of ongoing disruption from the Covid pandemic, wildfires and heat waves, California’s 6 million students and their parents know firsthand that far too many school buildings are not equipped to address our present challenges.
This is especially true for Black and brown children who face disproportionate climate change impacts and are more likely to attend school buildings in poor condition. With “hot school days” responsible for an estimated 5% of the racial achievement gap, one wonders how Gov. Gavin Newsom’s program to extend the school year deeper into the summer will cope with inequitable access to air-conditioning.
Leading superintendents across the country are delivering the message that our school infrastructure and our learning agenda must urgently address the climate crisis. For the first time, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona identified climate change as a threat to his department’s mission.
State leadership must respond by articulating a vision for how we ensure every school performs its most critical function — to provide safe and inspirational spaces for children to learn without disruption. A vision for California’s public school infrastructure in the form of a master plan or a road map such as that for early education and child care can align funding streams to address extreme weather impacts and with the state’s goal of carbon neutrality. A master plan, for example, would guide all districts to eliminate fossil fuels as they undertake facilities projects while also installing on-site solar Energy and Energy storage systems and transitioning to electric school buses. It would also help county offices of education develop curriculums that would incorporate these clean Energy investments as hands-on learning opportunities.  
 

-- JONATHAN KLEIN AND LISA PATEL

MANISTEE — Lighting and HVAC may not immediately spring to mind when one considers what is critical to student success within a school district.
"You feel that it's kind of removed from the students — the boilers and stuff like that — but it's extremely important to the students' success," said Ron Stoneman, Manistee Area Schools superintendent. "It's their learning environment."
The Manistee Area Public Schools Board of Education took action during its meeting on Dec. 7 to ensure the district can provide an Energy-efficient and comfortable educational setting by voting 5-0 in favor of entering into a $2.5 million contract with Honeywell for a project primarily focused on Madison Elementary, Manistee Middle/High School and the transportation building. Board members Theresa Anderson and Ashley Sensabaugh were not present during the meeting.
"It really focuses on the lighting and the heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems over at Madison, and a little bit at the middle school/high school," said Greg Mackey, education group account executive for Honeywell. "The work that we put into this proposal is really to try to complement the bond initiative that you guys currently have going on here, as well."
 

-- Kyle Kotecki

The highest expense for schools behind faculty salaries is Energy, prompting some districts in Michigan to eye solar savings. “For a long time, schools have been looking at how to become more Energy efficient,” said Scott Little, the associate executive director of the Michigan School Business Officials. Schools replace broken industrial equipment with more efficient alternatives and have phased out fluorescent lighting, Little said. A few Michigan schools already take advantage of solar Energy, but most rely on Energy from fossil fuels, said Ray Telman, the secretary and treasurer of the Michigan Schools Energy Cooperative, the organization spearheading a K-12 solar operation. The goal is to provide solar opportunities to about 4,000 K-12 buildings around the state starting in spring 2022 with a program called Bringing Renewable Innovation to Education, or BRITE for short, Telman said. In August the cooperative, which will cover startup costs, began pitching BRITE to schools. This program would reduce the cost of installation by about 25%, the amount available to for-profit businesses for such a project. Through BRITE, the cooperative would connect schools to for-profit installers to reap these benefits, Telman said.

-- Cameryn Cass

The sun is shining brightly on the future of the newest facility in the Oregon School District -- Forest Edge Elementary. The Fitchburg school was recognized this past weekend as one of Dane County’s 2021 Climate Champions. The Climate Champions program through the Dane County Office of Energy and Climate Change recognizes local entities that are leading on climate action. Entities are recognized using four designation levels (one to four stars), depending on the sustainability practices that they have implemented. Out of the 29 entities recognized as 2021 Dane County Climate Champions, only five achieved the highest level of achievement, and Forest Edge was one of them. During a press conference on Saturday, Dec. 4, Forest Edge was championed for becoming the first net zero school in Wisconsin, meaning after one full year of operation, the building has generated as much Energy as it has used for all school activities, including heating and cooling.

-- Neal Patten

A solar power project will cut Energy costs and offset nearly half the electricity needs for a Virginia school district. The project will provide the Isle of Wight County Schools a 3.3 megawatt solar system, which is being implemented by Standard Solar. The solar project will be installed on the rooftops of seven schools and provide 4,252 megawatt hours of clean Energy a year. The project is part of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, the state’s plan to transition to 100% clean Energy by 2050. Virginia ranks 11th in the county in solar Energy installations, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. A report by Generation 180 says 89 schools in Virginia had implemented solar projects by 2019, with the number tripling between 2017 and 2019. Standard Solar will own and operate the Wight County systems. “Incorporating solar Energy is cost-effective and helps the environment while reducing Energy expenses and funneling savings to resources that directly impact student success,” says Dr. Jim Thornton, division superintendent of Isle of Wight County Schools. Schools have been active in making improvements regarding Energy efficiency. Many efforts revolve around improving lighting systems in buildings and HVAC systems. One such project for St. Joseph School District in Missouri is expected to save it $2.1 million over a 15-year agreement with Schneider Electric. Another at Jeanette City School District in Pennsylvania is expected to save $3.6 million in Energy costs. Larger scale renewable Energy projects are proving more difficult. The Miami Herald reported that the Miami-Dade Schools are seeking 100% renewable Energy by 2030, but without a big increase in funding and cooperation from the local utilities.

-- David Worford

Continuing its 10 year focus of providing solar power projects to Vermont schools, Norwich Solar is pleased to announce that the Danville School, Cabot High School and Twinfield Union School will be receiving Net Metering Credits from a 500 kilowatt solar project built next to the Danville School. The solar project will further enable the schools’ support of renewable Energy and associated educational opportunities for students. Danville resident Doug LaMothe is hosting the array. Installation of the project will be completed this year. The schools are enrolled as customers of the project through a Net Metering Agreement. This agreement provides the schools long-term savings with no upfront costs or operational obligations. The net metering credits generated will be applied to the three schools’ Green Mountain Power electric bills each month, and will save approximately $500,000 in electricity costs over the 25 years. Mark Tucker, Superintendent at the Caledonia Central Supervisory Union stated, “Danville, Cabot and Twinfield Schools are pleased to be in partnership with Norwich Solar and to be sharing the output of a solar farm with their sister schools in Caledonia Central SU. All three schools had looked into solar as an Energy source in the past. Those past investigations had always floundered when it came to answering the question of siting: ‘Which part of the campus was best suited for a solar array? Should we put it on the school roof? Can we put it on the roof?’ Net metering resolved the siting question for us. When presented with the opportunity to garner the financial benefits of solar by participating in a planned solar farm to be built in Danville, with no upfront investment to the school districts, the respective Boards all saw this as a deal too good to pass up. We look forward to the Danville Solar project coming online so we can start saving money on the electricity costs in these three Districts, savings that will be passed on directly to our taxpayers in the form of reduced Energy costs for the three schools.”

-- Staff Writer

Harrah Elementary School Principal Rob McCracken’s voice echoes across the empty new gymnasium as he lists off its exciting features: a drop-down screen to bisect the space, half-and full-size basketball courts, room enough to host local tournaments.
Seemingly every inch of the new building has some state-of-the-art feature.
The “cafetorium” — that’s a combination cafeteria and auditorium — boasts high ceilings and seats nearly 300 students. Classrooms come with high-tech smart projectors that double as whiteboards. Some Energy-efficient outlets sense motion and turn off automatically when the building is empty. A huge library with big glass windows has so many movable shelves that the school likely will not have enough books to fill them all at first.
And there’s more to be discovered.
Walking into what he described as a typical classroom, McCracken finds a black, oval-shaped device charging on the counter. A worker tells him it’s a mini microphone system that each classroom is equipped with, allowing teachers to amplify their voices easily. McCracken tests the system out, delight quickly spreading across his face.
The new building will house Mt. Adams School District’s kindergarten through eighth grade students in January. Though it’s just down the road from the 85-year-old Harrah Elementary School where K-fifth grade students currently learn and play, the two buildings are literally decades apart in terms of design and technology.
 

-- Vanessa Ontiveros

At Discovery Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, students can check out a digital Energy dashboard to track in real time how much power the school is producing with the help of more than 1,700 rooftop solar panels. Essentially, the amount generated is equal to the annual Energy use of the building, making it one of the largest net-zero Energy schools in the United States.
Building on the success of Discovery, which debuted in 2015, the Arlington School District opened a second net-zero elementary school, Alice West Fleet, four years later. This school year saw the addition of Cardinal Elementary School, which is poised to be the district's third net-zero Energy school, once the building is officially verified, Cathy Lin, director of facilities for the school district, told ABC News.
"Always the intent is to build a sustainable school," she said.
Schools with solar power are on the rise in the U.S. -- growing 81% from 2014 to 2019. Still, the number is relatively small -- just 5.5% of K-12 public schools currently use solar Energy, according to a 2020 report from Generation180, a nonprofit that advocates for the transition to clean Energy.
The country's K-12 public schools are also "major Energy consumers," consuming about 8% of all the Energy used in commercial buildings, according to the Sierra Club.
 

-- Meredith Deliso

A new bipartisan coalition with some high-profile education leaders has released an action plan outlining how the sector can model climate change solutions.
Recommendations include ways schools can reduce carbon emissions, utilize infrastructure as a teaching tool, support communities of color disproportionately affected by weather crises and create pathways for students to pursue green jobs.
“Ultimately, there are a lot of technical fixes that we need in addressing climate change. But we will need people to actually advance a sustainable society,” said Laura Schifter, senior fellow with the Aspen Institute and founder of the new initiative, K12 Climate Action.
Synthesizing a year of listening tours and research, the report connects one of the country’s most sizable public sectors to actionable climate solutions — like mitigating warming effects by replacing the nation’s largest diesel fleet with electric school buses and swapping the common asphalt plots that surround schools with green spaces.
Organized by federal, state and local impact, all recommendations detail what partnerships can and do look like with business, philanthropy, media and advocacy organizations across the country.
In comparison with private homes, public safety offices and businesses, schools lead in the proportion of buildings producing net-zero emissions, according to the New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit that tracks and helps to redesign commercial spaces’ Energy performance. Annually, K-12 schools in the U.S. produce emissions equivalent to 18 coal-fired power plants or roughly 15 million cars. Energy is the second most costly expense for school districts on average.
The K12 Climate Action commission of students, teachers, education administrators and environmental leaders includes incoming Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, researcher and president of the Learning Policy Institute Linda-Darling Hammond and the presidents of the country’s two largest teachers unions, representing roughly 4 million educators combined. The group is co-led by Republican Christine Todd Whitman, former New Jersey governor and head of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush, and Democrat John King, former U.S. secretary of education under President Obama who is now running for Maryland governor.
With the action plan now live, the commission is coalition building with districts and businesses nationwide. Their focus is educating more leaders about how small and large school infrastructure changes or partnerships can support a cleaner environment, so that they’re able to follow through on recommendations.
“All the things that we’re calling for are achievable. There’s someplace somewhere that is doing each of the things we recommend,” King told The 74.
 

-- Marianna McMurdock

PERTH AMBOY - Construction of the new $283.8 million, 576,000-square-foot, three story Perth Amboy High School began on Convery Boulevard Monday with a groundbreaking ceremony.
The school, which will serve about 3,300 students in grades 9 to 12, is scheduled to open in the fall of 2024. It is one of the largest school construction projects undertaken by the New Jersey Schools Development Authority, according to the governor's office. 
“We are committed to ensuring that every child in New Jersey has access to a high-quality education,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a release. He was joined at the event by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, New Jersey Schools Development Authority (SDA) CEO Manuel Da Silva, Perth Amboy Public Schools Superintendent Dr. David Roman and city students.
“This school will not only relieve overcrowding in Perth Amboy Public Schools, but also provide a state-of-the-art facility that will foster learning and success for Perth Amboy students," Murphy said.
In addition to classrooms and science labs, the school will include specialized educational spaces such as an automotive lab, culinary arts lab, black box studio, dance studio, ROTC classroom, world languages classroom, life skills lab and a daycare center. The school also will be equipped with 1:1 student technology and Energy efficiency systems.
 

-- Suzanne Russell

CHESTER, Vt. — The Green Mountain Unified School District board heard recommendations on Thursday, Sept. 16, for facility improvements across all three schools in the district based on a report by Energy Efficient Investments (EEI) with options and cost breakdowns also provided. EEI had been tasked with doing full building Energy efficiency and performance evaluations for all schools in the district over the past several years. In addition to their assessment of air quality systems in each school, their presentation also included recommendations based on categories for safety, accessibility, and interior and exterior maintenance. According to the report, none of the schools — Green Mountain Union High School, Chester Andover Elementary School, or Cavendish Town Elementary School — meet the current guidelines for filtration and dehumidification. Green Mountain Union High School is in the most need of upgrades and has not had any major renovations since it was built in 1971 and has a ventilation system controlled by pneumatic air technology that has not been used since the 1980s. The windows are also a part of that system so replacing the system would also require window replacement as well. Safety issues brought forward include the lack of sprinkler systems in both Green Mountain Union High School and Chester Andover Elementary School and classrooms without egress windows, which are a requirement with no sprinkler system. Other Green Mountain Union High School recommendations include replacing the elevator and several non-American Disabilities Act compliant features including lack of compliant bathrooms, ramp handrails, multilevel drinking fountains, and lack of access to the stage in the auditorium. Other recommended improvements include upgrading floors, kitchen equipment, and doors throughout. Recommendation for the Chester Andover Elementary School included adding sprinkler system, providing an ADA-compliant toilet and shower in the nurse’s office, providing multilevel drinking fountains, and providing access to the stage. Other upgrades to floors, windows, and kitchen equipment were also included. EEI also included several scenarios for possible expansion. Cavendish Town Elementary School was in the best shape with minimal upgrades recommended but including changes to insulation to prevent ice damming as well as other upgrades.

-- Sharon Huntley

Governor Kathy Hochul today allocated $59 million for the new Clean Green Schools initiative, which aims to advance clean Energy and Energy efficiency solutions that will improve indoor air quality and reduce emissions for more than 500 public and private Pre-K-12 schools in disadvantaged communities across the state. As part of the program, the State will convene education leaders this fall, including school superintendents, administrators, and educators, to inform the initiative launching in early 2022 to address climate justice issues and create improved, healthier learning environments for students. Today's announcement supports New York's nation-leading goal of an 85 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act). "Every child deserves a clean and healthy learning environment, and this new program will help deliver that for our students, educators, and administrators in a way that provides meaningful results and can be replicated across our state," Governor Hochul said. "I know what it's like to grow up exposed to unhealthy air, and we owe it to our children to be better than previous generations and correct these injustices."    Administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the Clean Green Schools initiative will provide technical, financial, and human resource support to help schools in underserved areas evaluate, plan for, and implement Energy efficient and clean heating and cooling projects to benefit the most vulnerable New Yorkers.   The initiative will provide a range of tools, including benchmarking, Energy management, indoor air quality assessments, commissioning support, student engagement in clean Energy, and professional development opportunities around clean Energy and sustainability, as well as two rounds of competitive incentives for clean building improvements in schools.

-- Staff Writer

Mold and mildew have been found on ceilings and vents at Smithville High School, according to a presentation by the district’s maintenance director at the school board meeting Monday.    The Texas Association of School Boards, a statewide educational association that serves and represents school boards in the state, recently performed an air quality evaluation of Smithville High School and found “fungal spores on the outside exterior” of the building. Mildew was growing on the ceiling tiles and vents of room 108, above the teacher’s desk and storage closet.  Zack Harris, the district’s maintenance director, explained to the school board that the department is currently cleaning the campus’ eight Energy recovery ventilators, which are filters that bring fresh air and exhaust hot air in the building. Five had been cleaned as of Monday. 

-- Colleen DeGuzman

More than 7,000 gardens were sprouting in schoolyards across the US as of 2015. For decades, these leafy spaces have been earning praise for their multifaceted benefits: offering kids hands-on experience growing fruits and vegetables, helping them develop a taste for healthy food, and providing teachers with a platform to explore STEM concepts. Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) wants to move some school gardens up in the world—to rooftops—and plant them alongside meadows that also provide havens for wildlife, reduce stormwater runoff, and mitigate urban heat islands. HR 1863, a.k.a. the Public School Green Rooftop Program Act, which Velázquez introduced in March, would authorize the Department of Energy to provide $500 million in grants to public schools to build and maintain green roof systems. That’s enough for about 14 million square feet of greenery—which, by some estimates, would retain some 154 million gallons of stormwater and 537 tons of carbon—with priority given to schools serving low-income students. Velázquez, backed by 20 (Democratic) co-signers and the support of the National Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups, says such roofs will help forge a path to “cleaner, healthier communit[ies],” according to a press release. The science is on her side—although Pete Ellis, senior project manager for Recover Green Roofs, a Massachusetts-based company that’s installed green roofs on about 20 school and university buildings and is an industry sponsor of the bill, says that more work needs to be done to quantify things like carbon sequestration potential, biodiversity improvement, and just how much green roofs can reduce heating and cooling costs for any given building. Nevertheless, he says, “A lot of things have been rigorously substantiated: improved air quality, reduced ambient temperature to alleviate urban heat island effects, and the ability to capture and retain stormwater runoff.” 

-- Lela Nargi

After heat this week forced some Ohio public schools to shut down or dismiss students early, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is calling for upgrades and renovations for buildings.
In his statement Friday, he encouraged the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as well as the Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act.
Ensuring that Ohio’s students can learn in safe, healthy environments is a top priority. The bipartisan infrastructure deal would allow public schools to apply for Energy-efficient improvement grants, which could be used to upgrade their HVAC systems – it’s another reason we need to get the plan to the president’s desk and signed into law, so we can get students back in the classroom. It’s also why I’m working to pass my Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act, which would invest $130 billion to help schools upgrade their physical and digital infrastructure – including upgrading school HVAC systems. SENATOR SHERROD BROWN (D-OH)
A section of the IIJA would provide grants for schools to make Energy efficiency improvements.

-- Abigail Cloutier

HOLYOKE — The Massachusetts School Building Authority has approved up to $5.5 million in grants for Holyoke Public Schools to repair roofs on three of its elementary schools. In an announcement Wednesday, the MSBA said that it had approved funding for partial roof repairs at E.N. White Elementary School, Lt. Clayre P. Sullivan School and Maurice A. Donahue School. The “accelerated repair program” grants were part of $25 million in funding the agency approved. “The Accelerated Repair Program allows us to make critical repairs to more schools in less time,” state Treasurer Deborah Goldberg said in a statement. “By improving the learning environment for our children, the program also makes schools more Energy efficient and generates significant cost savings.”

-- DUSTY CHRISTENSEN

Before the coronavirus pandemic made airflow a life-or-death issue, ventilation experts rarely tested the air inside schools. That was probably a mistake, said Kevin Thomas, the business representative for the union representing ventilation workers in the Seattle area.
“You don’t feel the CO2 levels going up, you just start to get tired,” said Thomas of Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 66, which represents heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) workers. “The temperature rises, and you just take off your sweatshirt.”
Similar findings have been recorded by HVAC experts across the U.S. — perhaps not surprising in a country where about 36,000 schools have ventilation systems in need of attention. But replacing aging ventilation systems with new versions of the same out-of-date technology won’t be enough, warned Tony Hans, an engineer specializing in green buildings. 
“Most districts are still putting in HVAC systems that were invented and designed in the 1970s, and those are not going to get you to your health and wellness goals, or your carbon and Energy-efficiency goals,” Hans said.
And the systems that regulate airflow are just one of the dozens of facility improvements Hans thinks schools are about to have a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to fix. He sees the anticipated influx of federal funding through President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan infrastructure proposal as a rare chance for most districts in America to make their buildings both greener and cheaper to operate. 
“It’ll be the last time they get to touch their schools for a major overhaul for 40 or 50 years,” Hans said. “This is the opportunity to really do it right.”
Judged by annual spending in public dollars, America’s K-12 school facilities are the second largest infrastructure expense in the country — only roads, rail lines and other transportation systems cost more — and repairing or improving them may offer a clear path to broad reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Taken together, school facilities emit about 72 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, the equivalent of about 18 coal power plants or 8.6 million homes, according to the climate advocacy organization Generation180.
 

-- LEVI PULKKINEN

Two years of planning pays off this summer as construction starts on several major building projects.
There are three elementary school replacement projects that are scheduled to take two years to complete. Phase II modernization of a high school will take place over the next year. Plus, three school addition projects are scheduled to take one year as is a project to replace several systems in one school building. Lastly, the end of the school year kicks off multiple smaller projects traditionally done during summer break.
Replacement Projects
All three schools include sustainable design features that work toward the district's net-zero Energy goals and eliminate the use of fossil fuels. Geothermal heating and Energy-efficient LED lighting reduce Energy usage. Each school is being built to accommodate installation of solar panels in the future.
 

-- Staff Writer

During its May 17 meeting, the Smithville school board assessed what the possible financial impacts to the district would be from approving or rejecting a Chapter 313 agreement, or tax breaks, for a proposed $190 million solar farm that is planned to be built just south of Rosanky along Jeddo Road.
The 1,700-acre solar project is being led by international renewable Energy company RWE Renewables.
The company submitted the Chapter 313 application to the school board last year, seeking tax breaks allowed by the state tax code that would put a limit on the taxable property value for school district maintenance and operation tax purposes.
The meeting included a financial presentation from Kathy Mathias, a consultant with Moak, Casey & Associates — an Austin-based school finance consulting firm that is representing the Smithville school district in negotiations with RWE — that explained the financial impact of the solar project being built with and without the Chapter 313 agreement in place.
RWE is asking the school board to cap the taxable value of the proposed solar facility at $20 million for the first 10 years of the facility’s lifespan, starting in 2022. The $20 million value limitation was determined by the district’s tax base and rural status, and is set by a statute that is updated annually by the state comptroller.
According to Mathias’ presentation, if the project is built, the limitation agreement won’t affect the district’s maintenance and operation tax revenue over the next 10 years, but it will affect where that money comes from.
 

-- Cameron Drummond

Across the country, more and more students are returning to their classrooms after what has been, for some, nearly a year of online learning. The school closures brought on by COVID-19 have underscored how critical the physical environment is to student well-being and educational success. And yet, for large populations of students—particularly those in communities with fewer resources and in Black, Latino, and other communities of color1—going back to school means going back to broken-down facilities with poor insulation and outdated ventilation systems.2
The deficiencies of school infrastructure have been exposed by the compounding crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and the record-breaking extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change. Last year, schools in Oregon burned in the worst wildfire season to date,3 and schools in Florida flooded after Tropical Storm Eta.4 In February, an extreme cold snap caused schools in Texas to freeze.5 According to a 2020 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), 54 percent of U.S. school districts—a bulk of which primarily serve students of color—need to update or completely replace multiple building systems in their schools.6 Without the funds to do so, these districts are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and the exorbitant costs of rebuilding after it is too late. In 2016, for example, floods in West Virginia caused an estimated $130 million in damages to regional schools.7 In 2020, Hurricane Laura caused $300 million in damages to the Lake Charles public school system in Louisiana, with 74 of 76 schools in disrepair and more than half of the district’s 350 school buses inoperable.8
The urgency of investing in school infrastructure has never been greater, but, arguably, neither has the opportunity. The recent enactment of the American Rescue Plan by Congress—both through education funds and state and local fiscal recovery funds—will provide schools with an important down payment on the capital upgrades needed to address COVID-19.9 With this relief funding en route, Congress should shift to providing long-term funding to adequately and equitably update school infrastructure, equipping schools to withstand the disasters ahead and to participate in the clean Energy transition.
In his American Jobs Plan, President Joe Biden called for the investment of $100 billion to upgrade and build new public schools.10 The prioritization of climate change throughout the plan underscores that this transformation of the public school system can and should work in tandem with the country’s transformation to a 100 percent clean future. By increasing spending on local school infrastructure needs, Congress would not only stimulate the economy but also advance climate change solutions and reduce the number of instructional days missed by students due to public health and environmental factors. Finally, federal school funds could begin to redress the deep infrastructure inequities that plague public school districts.
 

-- Elise Gout, Jamil Modaffari, and Kevin DeGood

When Winslow Middle Schooler Richard Manuel changes classes, he likes to peek into the courtyard and check on his kids in the nursery.
Do they look happy? Do they have water? Are they fed? 
At just 13, Richard already has strong fatherly instincts — for a plant dad.
The seventh-grader is studying Environmental STEM at the middle school. His classmates have become mothers and fathers to the nature growing in two school courtyards. Soon, they'll be raising seedlings into thriving adult plants in a $300,000 grant-funded greenhouse on campus grounds. 
Winslow Township Schools' support of sustainability has earned the middle school hundreds of thousands in grants for green initiatives since 2017.
Recently it earned U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon status.
While the school district invested in solar panels, reflective windows and Energy efficient lighting, its green philosophy doesn't stop with turning off the lights when they're not in use. 
The middle school's Green Team — a group of environmentally conscious staff — has applied the ideals of nurturing Mother Nature to its task of building back up their middle schoolers' physical and mental well-being. 
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Principal Stella Nwanguma's students have looked to her school for comfort through major transitions from in-person learning to sudden virtual teaching, then back to school again with masks and other precautions. 
 

-- Carly Romalino

SMITHFIELD, R.I. (WPRI) — State and local leaders toured a Smithfield elementary school utilizing funds from the state’s School Construction Task Force on Wednesday.
General Treasurer and School Building Task Force Co-Chair Seth Magaziner, who released the Progress Report on Rhode Island School Construction last month, stopped by Anna McCabe Elementary School to see construction progress Tuesday.
Anna McCabe Elementary School is being expanded to accommodate students from William Winsor Elementary School that’s closing at the end of the 2020-2021 school year. The $85 million expansion project at McCabe Elementary broke ground last spring.
According to the new progress report, McCabe is one of 163 school buildings across the state utilizing funds from the so far $1.3 billion allocated to modernizing Rhode Island schools.
“They are one of the first out of the gate modernizing and consolidating their elementary schools. It’s just incredible,” Magaziner told 12 News Wednesday.
“They have maker spaces, a 21st century library that they’re building, the Energy efficiency, the natural light. It’s going to be terrific for students, it’s going to be terrific for outcomes, and that’s ultimately what this is all about,” he added.
Magaziner, who started his career as a public school teacher, said from his teaching experience, he learned the quality of a school building directly impacts the ability of teachers to teach and students to learn.
“Every student deserves to go to a school that’s warm and safe, and dry and equipped for 21st century learning. And the progress that we see statewide from the state’s school construction program is just incredible,” he said.
 

-- Alexandra Leslie

America’s public schools have enormous Energy, infrastructure and transportation needs, which make them an essential component of any plan to improve the nation’s overall infrastructure. Yet the role schools can play — both in economic recovery and in addressing climate change — is often overlooked.
Our public-school system — with more than 98,000 schools covering over 2 million acres of land across the country — recently received a D+ on America’s infrastructure report card. More than half of our school districts have multiple failing building systems, according to a recent government report.
Underinvestment in school infrastructure in Michigan led to a roof collapse at a high school, fortunately happening overnight when no students or educators were in the building. Black, Indigenous, Latinx and other students of color are more likely to attend underfunded schools in bad condition; their schools have to spend a greater share of their budgets on annual maintenance than well-resourced schools and find it more challenging to raise the funds needed for sufficient capital improvements. These same schools are more likely to experience poor indoor air quality, environmental hazards and other infrastructure issues detrimental to student health, attendance and test scores.
Yet this current underinvestment in school infrastructure presents an opportunity. Increased investment can help decarbonize our schools, lower annual Energy and operations costs, improve health, safety and learning outcomes and provide opportunities for students to develop the skills needed to advance a sustainable future. Additionally, this investment will create living labs for environmental sustainability, clean Energy and climate solutions.
Energy costs are schools’ second-highest costs, behind salaries, and schools are among the largest consumers of Energy in the public sector. With 480,000 school buses, mostly diesel, public schools operate the largest mass transit fleet in the country. Federal policymakers must be the catalyst for schools’ transition to clean Energy and sustainable operations.
 

-- LAURA SCHIFTER

KINGSPORT — Kingsport City Schools officials unveiled a nearly $68.7 million, 10-year capital plan to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen in a joint work session between the city board and school board on Tuesday. The largest single chunk of the $68.689 million in proposed spending, $18 million, would go to refurbishing, renovating and modifying the current Sullivan North High/Middle School into the new Sevier Middle School in time for an August 2023 opening. That is $2 million less than the $20 million the city paid Sullivan County Schools for the North building, over which the city is to gain control in June. The funding also would pay for converting the current Sevier into the new Jackson Elementary by August 2024, but Superintendent Jeff Moorhouse said the plan would literally touch most every school in the system, including the replacement of existing lighting with more Energy-efficient lighting in most schools and a roof replacement at Dobyns-Bennett High School.

-- Rick Wagner

Is opening a door or window enough ventilation to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in schools?
Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released last week provided significantly more detail on how schools should approach issues like community spread and mask use when deciding how to reopen schools safely during the pandemic. But critics say the new recommendations downplay the importance of improving indoor air quality and ventilation to prevent the spread of the airborne virus.
The CDC guidance encourages schools to improve ventilation as part of their overall cleaning strategy, and particularly points to opening doors and windows to “increase circulation of outdoor air to increase the delivery of clean air and dilute potential contaminants.”
In separate tips on ventilation, the agency describes this as a cost-free way to reduce the spread of the virus, along with inspecting and maintaining local exhaust ventilation; repositioning outdoor air dampers; and disabling demand-controlled ventilation, a common Energy-saving system that reduces the rate at which outdoor air is pulled into a building.
“The guidance addresses near-field (close contact) inhalation dose with masks and distancing. That’s good,” said Richard Corsi, the dean of engineering and computer science at Portland State University, an expert on indoor air quality, via a tweet. “Ventilation is given lip service with little guidance. Incredibly disappointing. The lack of understanding of ventilation or its importance (or perhaps just disregard) is wholly obvious.”
And 13 scientists this week, in a letter to President Joe Biden’s administration, are calling for a greater focus on limiting airborne transmission in schools, meatpacking plants, prisons, and other indoor settings.
 

-- Sarah Sparks

As part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding provided to El Dorado County and distributed to local school districts, Black Oak Mine Unified School District was able to enhance safety measures in classrooms and workspaces through the purchase and installation of plasma screen filtering ionization units in all 155 HVAC units in the district. Lead HVAC maintenance staff member, Kip Steward, is working closely with Site-Log IQ work crews to get the project completed. Operation of these filters reduces particulate matter, kills pathogens and neutralizes odors, which will greatly enhance the air quality supplied to each classroom and workplace in the district. They also save Energy. Work is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.

-- Kathleen Mendenhall

INDEPENDENCE COUNTY, Ark. (KAIT) - Two Independence County school districts have found a unique way to maintain the fields for their shared solar array. The Cedar Ridge and Midland school districts flipped the switch on their shared solar array Friday, becoming the first school districts in the state to partner in a solar project. Cedar Ridge Superintendent Dr. Sherry McMasters said the schools began working on the project in January 2020. “Being a partner with another district in this project just kind of solidifies the fact that you’re better off when you work with somebody else than you are in trying to do things by yourself,” said McMasters. The solar panels sit on what used to be portions of the hayfield at Cedar Ridge, creating over a megawatt of solar Energy total. The schools are expected to save a significant amount in Energy costs with the solar panels. “Between $70 and $80 thousand a year is what our district alone will save,” said McMasters.

-- Katie Woodall

PALATKA, Fla. – The Putnam County School District last week proposed an aggressive plan to “revitalize” school facilities in the county.
School officials propose closing down five schools -- two of them more than 75 years old -- in Putnam County at the end of the current school year and build nine new schools over the next 10 years. There are 18 total schools in the district.
“By rightsizing the district and eliminating excessive buildings, PCSD would qualify for special facilities funding from the state to construct new state-of-the-art facilities,” the district said in a press release.
The proposal would require a bond referendum that would have to be approved by the school board.
The goal is to consolidate and build safer and more Energy-efficient schools.
The proposal got mixed reactions on social media. Some said the plan would allow the district to replace older buildings in the county and prepare for growth. Others said closing the schools and consolidating would lead to issues.
 

-- Travis Gibson

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) – A former teacher for Horry County Schools has filed a lawsuit against the district, alleging exposure to mold while at school led to numerous health issues. According to the lawsuit filed Dec. 31, 2020 against the district and four individual schools, Mary Burroughs taught at St. James Elementary School, Seaside Elementary School, Lakewood Elementary School, and Socastee Middle School during the 2016-2019 school years. During that time, Burroughs said she continued to suffer from severe headaches, short-term memory loss, a lack of Energy, watery eyes, dizziness, congestion in her nose and throat, and nerve issues in her hands and fingers, the lawsuit states. Burroughs alleges she did not suffer from these ailments before working for the school district. A medical and allergy test revealed exposure to mold, according to the suit. The plaintiff claims she reported problems with her modular classroom at St. James Elementary as having a mildew odor and mold problems on numerous occasions to not only the school’s custodian and maintenance personnel, but also the principal. According to the lawsuit, HCS had knowledge of water damage, water leaks, and mold issues for years within numerous schools, including St. James Elementary.

-- Brad Dickerson

BRISTOL, Va. — Air inside city schools should be cleaner and safer when classes resume next month, thanks to a $450,000 investment in purification systems. Contractors for Energy Systems Group are completing the installation of more than 330 Global Plasma Solutions needle point bipolar ionization devices in the heating and cooling systems of the city’s four elementary, middle and high school. The project, which is expected to be 99% effective in killing the novel coronavirus and many other airborne pathogens, was funded by federal CARES Act dollars. “It has been a good project,” Superintendent Keith Perrigan. “Having buildings as old as ours, ventilation and air quality have always been a concern. If there is anything good that came out of COVID, it’s been this. Typically we wouldn’t have had money available to do this project. Because CARES Act funding was available, we’re able to do it.” The School Board approved the project at its November meeting and much of the work occurred during and following the Thanksgiving break. Work is now nearly complete in all buildings, Perrigan said.

-- David McGee

MASON, Mich. — At the November 9 Board of Education Meeting, the Board voted to upgrade the District’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and install an air cleaning method as an additional measure to keep students and staff safe from airborne pathogens and COVID-19. Mason Public Schools (MPS) will purchase the Dynamic Air Quality Solutions system, which according to the company, “captures the droplet nuclei that play a role in aerosol transmission of the COVID-19 virus while contributing to reduced maintenance and lower Energy costs, compared to high-efficiency conventional filters.” MPS will spend $472,000 to upgrade the HVAC systems in each of the District’s six school buildings using this new technology. The District will make the purchase from Trane, who was awarded the contract by the U.S. Communities cooperative, which is a cooperative purchasing organization for state and local government, K-12 education, colleges and universities. The project will be paid for by a combination of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds and sinking funds.

-- Staff Writer

HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) — When farmers needed help in the past building a barn, the community historically came together for a “barn raising” as many hands make light work. Harrisonburg preserves this timely tradition, not with rural construction, but in implementing solar panels at community establishments. Area residents gathered at Eastern Mennonite School for a solar barn raising earlier this month to install 357 solar panels atop the school’s upper building, the largest K-12 solar array in the city. Nearly 50 volunteers composed of students, alumni and neighbors worked alongside Got Electric workers to install the fleet in less than five hours. The mounted solar arrays will generate a total capacity of 136 kilowatts of power and offset a third of the total electricity used by the school’s facilities and avoid more than 141 tons of carbon dioxide pollution per year, according to a release published by the school and Energy company. Secure Futures Solar is a Staunton-based agency that installs corporate systems and offers 20-year payment plans for nonprofits, so organizations like EMS only pay the difference saved from switching to solar. The developers have also installed panels in Augusta County, Eastern Mennonite University and Gift and Thrift as well as several other schools and businesses. Secure Futures Senior Business Development Associate Loren Swartzendruber was the eighth president at Eastern Mennonite University and said the university was Secure Future’s first solar installment project in 2010. He said the process of bringing solar Energy to EMS began more than one year ago, first by analyzing 12 months of electric bills to determine if solar will benefit the building.

-- KATHLEEN SHAW

As counties across California look to reopen schools for onsite instruction, education and public health officials need to ask themselves a very important question: Have we made sure all schools and classrooms have adequate fresh air ventilation to reduce coronavirus transmission? If the answer is no, students and staff will get sick.
Some help emerged from Sacramento last week: the Governor signed Assembly Bill 841, which will tackle a slice of this. The bill creates the School Reopening Ventilation and Energy Efficiency Verification and Repair Program, directing upwards of $600 million in Energy efficiency funding to test, adjust and repair heating, air conditioning and ventilation (HVAC) systems in public schools over the next three years.
Our public school facilities are on the front lines of this pandemic. Physically closing school buildings in March was a necessary and swift tool for “extreme” physical distancing to combat Covid-19. We were instructed to keep space between each other and to sanitize frequently touched surfaces and our hands regularly. Six months into this pandemic, we’ve learned a great deal about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and how it transmits. We now know this virus can spread through the air.
With an airborne virus, the absolute riskiest places for groups of people are indoor environments that have very poor fresh air ventilation. This describes thousands of public school classrooms across California.
To reduce risk of spread when someone with Covid-19 enters the school building, school districts are being advised to increase levels of surface cleaning, ensuring frequent hand washing for students and staff, conducting daily symptom screening, requiring mask wearing, employing space utilization to physically distance students and staff, and ensuring higher levels of indoor air ventilation and filtration. Local school leaders are devising protocols and operations plans for each of these mitigation measures to their best of their ability. Researchers in the healthy buildings program at Harvard note in their risk mitigation guidance to schools, “Although it is unlikely that any given school will be able to incorporate every recommendation, we want to emphasize that these strategies work together as part of a multi-layered plan to reduce exposure and limit transmission of Covid-19 in schools.”
 

-- Jeff Vincent - Commentary

Los Angeles Unified School District has been around for a while. Look no further for evidence than its schools, hundreds of which are more than 50 years old — with nearly 100 dating back at least a century. That’s why district officials are appealing to the public to pass another bond measure that would finance future school modernization efforts. Voters will decide during the Nov. 3 election whether to support Measure RR, which would authorize the district to issue an additional $7 billion in bonds to update aging facilities, retrofit buildings to withstand earthquakes and make them accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The measure would also pay for changes to meet new COVID-19 facilities safety standards, as well as the expansion of early childhood and adult education programs, new wellness clinics, cafeteria upgrades, cleaner school buses, and renewable Energy. Measure RR, called the School Upgrades and Safety Measure, requires a 55% voter approval to pass. District officials say the measure would not increase taxes but continue the tax rate that homeowners currently pay, which amounts to $21.74 for every $100,000 of assessed value on their homes, through about 2055. If Measure RR doesn’t pass, tax rates would go down when prior bonds expire.

-- LINH TAT

Adam Jacobs, an efficiency consultant and the former Energy manager for the city of Boston, informally evaluated Winooski Schools' ventilation system and found it "totally insufficient" to preventing the spread of COVID-19. Jacobs was concerned the exposure his wife, a school teacher in the district, would receive. "My wife goes into that building two days a week," he said. Jacobs said working with Boston schools on ventilation issues has made him "acutely aware of problems in public schools." Lots of issues, according to consultant
Jacobs' main concerns include: Outdated equipment's inability to use the fine filters recommended for catching COVID-19 air particulates.
Inability to circulate adequate amounts of outdoor air during cold weather months, putting people at particular risk in the winter. 
Piecemealed,  motel-style equipment is a low cost, poor performing solution Schools could be in compliance with state guidelines without safeguarding air quality, Jacobs said. Winter poses an increased challenge to keeping air in classroom clear of the novel coronavirus, and for meeting ventilation standards as the equipment operation scales back bringing in outside air when temperatures drop. "When it gets colder and they can no longer meet minimum ventilation rates (which is inevitable) — that I think the risks of in-person learning are heightened and the administration needs to respond accordingly," he said in an email. 

-- April Barton

A new study from clean Energy nonprofit Generation180 ranks Arizona third among states for installed solar capacity at K-12 schools. The adoption of solar by Arizona schools contributed to a 139% increase nationwide in the amount of solar installed on schools since 2014 according to the new report, which Generation180 developed in partnership with The Solar Foundation and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Nationally, Arizona ranks: 3rd in installed solar capacity at 125 megawatts, an increase of 11% since 2017;
4th in number of solar schools at 400; an increase of 8% since 2017;
5th in number of students attending a solar school at 270,333 students. 
School districts across the country are reaping millions of dollars in saved Energy costs from going solar, which are crucial as they adapt to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. The study finds that the vast majority of schools go solar with minimal to no upfront capital costs. According to the report, 79% of the solar installed on schools was financed by a third party, which allows schools and districts, regardless of the size of their budget, to purchase solar Energy and receive immediate Energy cost savings. Arizona is one of the 28 states that allows third-party financing for solar. Energy costs are the second largest expense for U.S. schools after personnel. Report authors note that school districts can save significantly on Energy costs over time. For example, the Tucson Unified School District will save an estimated $43 million on Energy costs over 20 years. The district’s 23.8 megawatt solar project is the largest among K-12 districts in the state. “Solar is absolutely attainable for all schools—regardless of how sunny or wealthy it is where you live. Too few schools realize that solar is something they can take advantage of to save money and benefit students today,” said Wendy Philleo, executive director of Generation180. “Schools that switch to solar can put Energy cost savings toward return-to-school preparations, such as installing ventilation systems, or toward retaining teachers and preserving essential programs,” she added.

-- KAY CAMPBELL

MANCHESTER — A Hartford-based architectural firm is designing two Connecticut elementary schools as “net-zero” buildings, which generate as much Energy as they use.
TSKP Studio is touting the projects as the first such schools in the state, “establishing a new standard for sustainable design in our communities.”
The renovation and addition project at Buckley Elementary School in Manchester and construction of a new Mansfield Elementary School are both to begin next year.
Both projects will use roof-mounted solar panels and geothermal wells. Plans also focus on reducing Energy demand through lighting, window placement and strategic IT design, the architects said in a news release Tuesday.
“This validates what we’ve been doing all along if you look at our portfolio of work: incorporating daylight, planning efficient spaces and simplifying forms,” TSKP partner Ryszard Szczypek said.
With built-in tools for monitoring Energy generation and consumption in real time, the buildings also will be educational resources, the architects said, providing students and teachers with dashboards to gauge Energy performance.
“Connecting the school community to the environmental mission of their learning space will provide a rich opportunity for an ongoing dialog about sustainability,” the release said.
 

-- JESSE LEAVENWORTH

SALT LAKE CITY — With the objective of establishing “healthier, more environmentally sustainable schools,” the Salt Lake City Board of Education has adopted a resolution that calls on the school district to meet all of its Energy needs with carbon-neutral Energy no later than 2040. The resolution includes incremental goals that build on ongoing efforts by district staff to reduce Energy consumption and lessen the school district’s carbon footprint. The resolution, approved by unanimous vote, calls on the school district to use 100% clean, renewable Energy in its electricity sector by 2030. The amended resolution sets a goal that the district meets 100% of its Energy needs with carbon-neutral Energy by 2040 at the latest. Under the resolution, the school board will form a sustainability task force of community members, students, Energy experts, partners and district staff by Oct. 1. Paul Schulte, the school district’s executive director of auxiliary services, will lead the group.

-- Marjorie Cortez

Old Lyme — The Region 18 Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution this week seeking to phase out all fossil-fuel use at its schools throughout Lyme and Old Lyme by 2030. The resolution is not a mandatory ruling for the board to follow, but rather a goal that will help drive decision-making regarding heating, electricity and transportation sources for the district over the next 10 years. The district claims it is the first in the state to formally adopt such a goal. The idea for the resolution is based around concepts published by the Sierra Club, a national environmental organization that has been working to inspire school districts throughout the country to take on similar plans, Superintendent Ian Neviaser said by phone Friday. “Internally, we’ve been continually looking at ways to be more Energy efficient and more environmentally friendly, and we have significant interest from our student body and parents in doing that,” said Neviaser, who said he has been helping form the 10-year plan with a Board of Education sustainability subcommittee made up of board members, school staff, residents and students. “There really is an interest for taking this (idea) to the next level and meeting the standards for being carbon neutral within a 10-year time frame.” Trying to attain the 10-year carbon-neutral goal, Neviaser said by phone this week, will not only financially benefit the district but expand educational opportunities for students and support global, national and state efforts to reduce carbon Energy reliance. Neviaser said while the district has been moving in the direction of reducing its carbon footprint for some years now, the plan materialized over recent months after the subcommittee overseeing it was formalized earlier this year.

-- Mary Biekert

In 2013, Chicago and Philadelphia together closed a record number of public schools, displacing more than 20,000 students, 90% of whom were low-income African-American and Latino. Their parents aggressively fought these school closures, saying they crumbled neighborhood anchor institutions while leaving their children feeling undervalued. But districts were undeterred, citing financial strains, low enrollment, and poor achievement.   What happens to families in the aftermath of these closings? For her forthcoming book, “Closed for Democracy,” Northwestern University urban politics professor Sally Afia Nuamah found that school closures tend to imbibe mostly black and Latino families with a sense of “mobilization fatigue”: They expend considerable political Energy fighting to keep their schools open only to watch their elected officials cater to families who actually support closing schools.

-- BRENTIN MOCK

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) officials are forging ahead briskly with an extensive list of construction, maintenance and repair projects during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gov. Northam on March 23 closed all Virginia kindergarten-through-12th-grade school facilities for the remainder of the academic year. FCPS is taking advantage of the shutdown to perform the work, while abiding by social-distancing requirements and other safety guidelines, said spokesman Lucy Caldwell.
The school system is speeding up work on roofing projects, turf replacements (upon delivery of all materials to the work sites), middle-school security cameras, testing for and abatement of lead in school facilities’ drinking water, flooring repairs and replacements, installations of new mechanical and HVAC systems, and asbestos-abatement projects.
In addition, FCPS is accelerating playground repairs and installations, lighting replacements and painting of some facilities’ parking lots, gym-floor refinishings and switching off “Wink-O-Matic” flashing lights for pedestrians near schools.
FCPS officials also have accelerated construction of a science lab at Edison High School in Kingstowne and expansion of the parking lot at Shrevewood Elementary School in the Falls Church area.
The Energy Management Section of the school system’s Office of Facilities Management (OFM) continues to rotate staff on its weekly call-out list and remotely monitor Energy use, temperatures and humidity levels of FCPS buildings, Caldwell said.
OFM’s grounds section, which employs 32 groundskeepers, has resumed mowing activities for administrative centers, fields and school-perimeter areas, Caldwell said. Grounds crews have installed “Facility Closed” signs on all the school system’s playgrounds, courts and athletic fields.  
 

-- BRIAN TROMPETER

CAMDEN — Preble Shawnee Board of Education members voted to move forward with renovations to the district’s Junior and Senior High School facilities during a special meeting held Wednesday, March 25. The board approved approximately $1.4 million in expenditures, including a contract with Dayton, Ohio-based firm Energy Optimizers, USA to serve as construction managers for the project. Renovations to the Junior and Senior High will include work on the building’s generator, plumbing, LED lighting, ceiling tiles and security features. Renovations will also involve adding air conditioning to the facility. The district initially planned to use carryover funds from its previous operating levy to fund the renovations, pending passage of a new five-year income tax levy in March. Poll closures ordered in response to the current Covid-19 pandemic, however, have left the fate of that levy uncertain. Under new voting guidelines announced by state authorities last week, residents wishing to vote on the measure may do so by requesting an absentee ballot through the mail. Returned ballots must be postmarked no later than April 28. “The community has said all along that they’d like to see the carryover used for the upkeep of the building,” Superintendent Matt Bishop said. “If we keep putting off the renovation, we’ll end up with a building with end-of-life mechanical systems that need to be replaced.”

-- Anthony Baker

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.VA (WCHS/WVAH) — A squabble between two gas companies is threatening to delay the building of the new Clendenin Elementary School, which was destroyed in the 2016 flood.
The new school isn’t as far along as the new Herbert Hoover High School, but the Kanawha County School Board won the right to move ahead with getting the land for the school at a court hearing Wednesday.
The hearing was to decide the fair market value the school system must pay Vesta Oil & Gas Holdings for the land.
A legal fight between Vesta and Cunningham Energy involving mineral rights has Cunningham trying to intervene in the case.
Cunningham had a much different number in mind than the $25,000 the board says the 35 acres are worth.
 

-- BOB AARON

Atlanta’s Kimberly Elementary is a school on the move. Back in 2017, the school found itself on the state “turnaround list” of schools with the lowest average test scores, says Principal Joseph Salley. But not for long.
“It’s been a long journey, a lot of hard work from our kids, our families, and our staff to get moving in the right direction—but last year we got taken off the turnaround list,” Salley says. “We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re not at the bottom anywhere, and that’s great for us.”
The school community has pulled together to help students hit their academic goals, but they know there’s more to school than grades and test scores.
“Our students already feel safe coming to school—we just want them to be able to make the most of every part of it, from the classrooms to the playground,” says Salley. But today, the yard at Kimberly is mostly empty space, with just a small play set off to one side.
“I think about our kids,” says Salley. “I know they don’t have a park nearby they can walk to. They’re sometimes outside at their apartment complexes, but most of their complexes don’t have a playground, so the kids are always looking for something to do. I just feel like our students and their families are missing out on something so important.”
So when he heard about the opportunity to work with The Trust for Public Land to make big changes to the schoolyard at Kimberly, he jumped at the chance. Kimberly and Dobbs Elementary Schools are the first two sites in our Atlanta Community Schoolyards program, a partnership with Atlanta Public Schools, Urban Land Institute Atlanta, and Park Pride to improve schoolyards and open them as public parks outside of school hours. The school community  has contributed their time, Energy, and ideas to designing a beautiful new playground, which will open this fall.
 

-- The Trust for Public Land

With Gov. Ron DeSantis’ $600 million proposal to increase teacher salaries, many state legislators are scratching their heads to find ways to fund this bold initiative. One potential solution may come from an unlikely place.
Democratic state Sen. Lori Berman (D-Boynton Beach) is advocating for a solar schools proposal that could make it easier for schools to save money on Energy costs.  
According to a report from the Florida Department of Education, school districts across the state spent more than $528 million on Energy costs during the 2017-18 fiscal year. That doesn’t even include charter school expenditures on Energy costs, which weren’t part of the DOE report.
Sen. Berman’s proposal (SB 1290) would streamline the process for public schools to embrace solar infrastructure to power their classrooms. The bill would exclude costs associated with a solar Energy system – including equipment, installation, design and engineering – from existing per-student station caps on public school construction.
“Despite our nickname, the Sunshine State’s solar power potential has been unrealized,” said Sen. Lori Berman. “Our state needs to consider more measures that incentivize renewable alternatives as they’re far more cost-effective than fossil fuels and, in fact, represent more jobs in this country at a ratio of 3-1. By harvesting the untapped power of the sun in Florida’s K-12 school facilities, we can lead new generations of young Floridians into a brighter, cleaner future.”
 

-- Javier Manjarres

PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Board of Education will consider a wide-ranging Energy efficient plan for Wood County Schools.
During Tuesday’s board meeting, Superintendent Will Hosaflook said representatives of CMTA Energy Solutions will present an overview of a program to increase Energy efficiency in February.
CMTA “has set up a timeline for us to look at,” Hosaflook said, including “possible projects, possible school renovations and facility upgrades.”
In 2018, CMTA Energy Solutions reviewed utility bills for the district’s schools and administrative buildings. The survey was conducted without cost to the school system, and showed hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential savings through an Energy-efficiency plan.
The survey found the highest Energy usage at Fairplains Elementary School, which was built in 1948. Just below Fairplains were Worthington and Neale Elementary schools. Worthington is slated to close at the end of this school year.
The CMTA report estimated the school system would need to invest $8.5 million-$11 million to improve Energy efficiency at all of its schools and facilities. The report also estimated annual savings of $656,000-$826,000, with the school system recouping its investment within 15 years.
 

-- MICHAEL ERB

The West Milford Board of Education voted unanimously Jan. 7 to authorize Energy NJ LLC, to submit plans for Energy and solar projects in seven of its schools to the state that could not only save money, but possibly make the district an estimated $134,000. Identified in an Energy Savings Improvement Program and Solar Power Purchase Agreement, approved by the board last July, the district is now sending the plans to the New Jersey Department of Education for approval. The plans require state Department of Education approval and authorization for amendments to the District's Long-Range Facilities Plan to incorporate the solar projects, officials said. The projects would install solar panels at seven of the district's buildings, West Milford High School, the West Milford Bus Garage, Macopin Middle School (Senior Lot), Upper Greenwood Lake School, Apshawa Elementary School, Maple Road Elementary School, and Paradise Knoll Elementary School. According to district officials, the projects also include other Energy Saving Measures through improvements for all of the district's buildings to the tune of nearly $7 million dollars, with no capital outlay required by the school district. Costs would be covered by guaranteed Energy savings received through the agreement.

-- Staff Writer

WOODSTOCK — If Ben Ford and Keri Cole continue raising their two young children in Woodstock, the elder would enter Woodstock Union Middle School and High School around 2026, the younger two years later. By then, Ford hopes, they’ll attend some version of a new campus — with 21st-century Energy efficiency, up-to-fire-code sprinklers and learning spaces that are ergonomically and educationally inviting. School officials are considering those upgrades as they aim to replace what they say are outdated buildings that opened in 1957. Toward that end, Ford, a member of the Windsor Central Modified Unified Union School District board, is co-chairing the committee exploring how, whether and when to pay for a project that would cost Woodstock and six surrounding communities more than $60 million to build. They don’t intend to present a plan for Town Meeting in March, but do want to move forward. “Hopefully, we’ll have something to bring to the towns sooner than 2022,” Ford said last week. “The longer you hold off, the more potential you’ve got for higher cost. “But before we (approach the contributing towns), we have a lot of pieces that need to fall into place.” The biggest piece is finding sources of money. The Vermont Legislature suspended the state’s School Construction Aid Program more than a decade ago, and between the ensuing Great Recession and infrastructure expenses incurred after Tropical Storm Irene, lawmakers haven’t shown much appetite to share the cost of new schools for districts with declining enrollments. “The state is going to open the discussion of whether we develop a plan for school-construction reimbursement again this session,” said state Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Woodstock. “But even if we do come up with a plan, it’s going to take time. There was already a queue of districts with projects they wanted funded, and the line will just get longer.”

-- DAVID CORRIVEAU

Michigan voters in 35 communities will go to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to issue nearly $2.8 billion in bonds for public school improvements in what could be an economic stimulus for the state's construction industry in the coming years. The biggest school bond issue on Tuesday's ballots is in Ann Arbor, where voters are being asked to approve a $1 billion, 30-year capital bond funded by 1.65-mill property tax increase to renovate aging schools dating back to the 1920s and place solar panels on the roofs of all 35 district buildings. Ann Arbor's bond proposal calls for adding air conditioning to nearly all of its school buildings and replacing lighting with Energy-efficient LED lights. The solar power-generating panels are meant to offset the additional electricity use from climate-controlled air conditioning, Superintendent Jeanice Kerr Swift said. "We wanted to make sure we were offsetting the (environmental) impact of that," she said.

-- CHAD LIVENGOOD

Williston’s new fire hall has a modern kitchen, while food must either be delivered or cooked on a hot plate for students at one of the city’s elementary schools for lack of a kitchen. “When a city decides to build a fire hall, they don’t need 60% of the district to vote,” said Alexander Public School Supt. Leslie Bieber. “They don’t have to ask permission. Whereas we do.” The Williston example was cited at the Western Dakota Energy Association conference in Minot Thursday during a panel discussion that highlighted the challenges in funding school buildings. The difficulty in passing bond issues to maintain and upgrade the state’s school buildings to meet codes and accommodate enrollment growth was a concern of a panel of three superintendents and a Williston legislator. “The ability to pass a bond has become an issue statewide,” said panel moderator Aimee Copas, executive director of the North Dakota Council of Educational Leaders. “School leaders and communities are struggling with this from corner to corner – north, south, east and west – around our state.” In North Dakota, 48 districts don’t even have a building fund, she said. “So we have districts all over the state that are dealing with overcrowding issues – sometimes districts that are dealing with buildings that are 50 to 80 years old that they’re trying to keep afloat,” she said. “They’re really struggling with getting to the 60% supermajority.” Garrison was cited as an example of a school district that has gone to voters multiple times and never quite reached a 60% majority.

-- JILL SCHRAMM

Sen. Elizabeth Warren released a wide-ranging education plan Monday, pledging to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into public schools if she wins the presidency, paid in part through her proposed two-cent tax on wealth over $50 million. Warren’s plan is infused with her broader campaign themes of reducing corruption and fraud; she backs measures like new taxes on education lobbying, limiting the profiteering of tech companies that sell digital products to schools, and curbing self-dealing within charter schools. And it builds on some of her earlier campaign proposals, like pledging to appoint a former public school teacher as education secretary, supporting schools in teaching Native American history and culture, and expanding early learning opportunities for infants and toddlers. In May, fellow Democratic hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders’s own education plan sent shockwaves when he endorsed the NAACP’s call for banning for-profit charter schools and holding nonprofit charters to the same transparency and accountability standards as traditional public schools. In her new plan, Warren joins Sanders in embracing these positions. Warren goes further than Sanders in calling not only for a for-profit charter school ban, but also extending the ban to any nonprofit charter that “actually serve[s] for-profit interests.” Warren said she would even direct the IRS to investigate nonprofit charters for potential tax status abuse and recommends referring “cases to the Tax Fraud Division of the Department of Justice when appropriate.” On the subject of school infrastructure, Warren also goes beyond her two top rivals in outlining how she would improve aging facilities. Sanders’s plan pledges to “fully close the gap in school infrastructure funding to renovate, modernize, and green the nation’s schools” but doesn’t offer details. Biden pledges to include funding for school buildings in a larger federal infrastructure bill but doesn’t estimate how much that investment should be. (Republican Sen. Susan Collins managed to defeat a measure to boost federal investment in school buildings last time the nation authorized significant infrastructure spending through the 2009 stimulus.) Warren’s education plan commits to at least $50 billion in additional school facility funding, and notes that some of her other plans include funds for school modernization and repair, like the lead abatement grant program in her environmental justice package, and money for retrofitting and upgrading buildings in her clean Energy plan. The need for school infrastructure investment is substantial: A 2016 report estimated the nation underfunds school facility needs by $46 billion each year.

-- Rachel M. Cohen

From the perspective of those who know the buildings best, what are the local school district’s most pressing facilities issues? Answering that question was one purpose behind recent tours of Mills Lawn Elementary School and Yellow Springs High School/McKinney Middle School. The elementary school tour was held in September; the high school/middle school tour in August. Led by Mills Lawn Principal Matt Housh and districtwide Head of Maintenance Craig Carter, who has worked for the district since 2008, the Mills Lawn tour drew two local residents as well as members of the facilities task force, including Superintendent Terri Holden. In a walk-around that lasted almost two hours on the evening of Sept. 18, outdoor issues such as the lack of a fence around the property and indoor issues such as Energy-inefficient windows, lack of central air conditioning in parts of the building, lack of a separate cafeteria and lack of learning spaces conducive to group work were among the issues highlighted by Housh and Carter. Classroom space is “inefficient and not designed for modern learners, but we work with it,” Housh said during the tour. On the plus side, Housh mentioned the campus’ greenspace. “We have lots of greenspace. We love that,” he said. The original Mills Lawn structure was built in 1953, with additions in 1958 and 2003. The school currently enrolls about 330 students in grades K–6, according to Housh.

-- Audrey Hackett and Carol Simmons

THE HOUSE AND SENATE - Beacon Hill Roll Call records the votes of local senators from recent Senate debate on the the Student Opportunity Act that invests $1.5 billion, mostly in the form of Chapter 70 Aid for local school districts, in the state’s public K-12 education system over the next seven years. There were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week. MORE MONEY FOR SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECTS (S 2350) Senate 38-0, approved an amendment raising from $602 million to $800 million the annual funding cap that the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) is allowed to spend on school building and renovation projects. The quasi-independent government authority’s job is to fund capital improvement projects in public schools across the state. According to its site, “The MSBA strives to work with local communities to create affordable, sustainable and Energy-efficient schools across Massachusetts.” “We can’t expect our students to succeed in the 21st century when they’re attending schools built to serve students in the 1950s, which is why it’s crucial that we give the hardworking staff at the MSBA the resources they need to evaluate and finance more projects,” said the amendment sponsor Sen. Barry Finegold (D-Andover). “The increase to the cap will allow the MSBA to spread more dollars across the commonwealth and address the demand for potential projects. With a potential downturn in the economy on the horizon, we need to authorize these projects now so that we create jobs and get these projects off the ground while we are able to do so.” (A “Yes” vote is for the amendment.) Sen. Michael Brady Yes Sen. Paul Feeney Yes Sen. Marc Pacheco Yes Sen. Michael Rodrigues Yes

-- Bob Katzen

Wickenburg Unified School District expects the dust to settle with the solar panel project being constructed in the Wickenburg High School parking lot, but the district has plans for work in the pipeline at each of its four schools. “The contractor is claiming to be done with the whole thing on Nov. 8,” said Dr. Howard Carlson, WUSD superintendent, at the Wickenburg Chamber of Commerce Education Committee meeting Sept. 25. “That clears the way for the Webb season.” The first performance at Del E. Webb Center For the Performing Arts, which shares the parking lot with WHS, is slated for Nov. 7 with The Bellamy Brothers. The solar panel project is completely funded and will be maintained by APS as part of its Schools and Government Program. More than 300 schools have had solar systems installed through the program and has provided students a chance to learn about renewable Energy. Vulture Peak Middle School is in line for at least two projects. The most pressing is an emergency project through the Arizona School Facilities Board. This board was created in 1998, and AZSFB is a cabinet-level, state-government agency managing nearly $300 million in state funding appropriated for K-12 school district facilities. A 10-member board meets monthly to grant funding for new school construction and to renew existing school facilities, according to its website. The trees at VPMS have grown into the septic tank system at the school on Vulture Mine Road, and using the toilets has become an issue. An engineer from AZSFB visited the site last week. “They’ll be designing it,” Carlson said. “Then they will put it out to bid to be repaired. SFB considers it an emergency so that will move much quicker. It is coming pretty quick, and that’s a good thing.” The school district filed a lawsuit in September 2015 against EMC2 Group Architects; Caruso Turley Scott; Hess-Rountree; Ricker, Atkinson, McBee, Morman and Associates; and others for professional negligence, breach of contract, and indemnity in reference to the construction of Festival Elementary School in Buckeye. The district claimed “the school is experiencing issues due to design defects, including but not limited to structural movement of school buildings, separation of walls, cracking of walls, structural movement of the slab, damage to the roofing system, damage to the stucco system, and other issues …”

-- Shawn Byrne

TRENTON – As students across New Jersey return to school for the 2019/2020 school year, Governor Phil Murphy announced four new schools constructed and opened by the New Jersey Schools Development Authority (SDA) this week. These new facilities provide more than 3,800 additional seats for students throughout New Jersey, furthering the Administration’s commitment to providing high quality educational facilities for all New Jersey students.“New Jersey is proud to offer its students the best public school system in the nation,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “With that privilege comes the responsibility of ensuring best-in-class educational facilities across all our communities, that serve the needs of all our state’s students. With the opening of four new schools this year, our administration has made good on that promise.” The four completed school projects represent a total state investment of more than $306 million. The schools opened include the Madison Avenue Elementary School in Irvington, the Sonia Sotomayor School No. 21 in Passaic City, Rose M. Lopez Elementary School in Perth Amboy and the Trenton Central High School. All of the new schools incorporate the guidelines developed by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) known as the “Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (“LEED®”) program in order to achieve maximum Energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in the design of schools. All four schools are on track to achieve LEED certification, with three of the buildings expected to achieve LEED Silver certification. “The opening of these four new schools demonstrates SDA’s commitment to positively impacting New Jersey’s students, delivering facilities that will provide educational opportunities for thousands of students now and for years to come,” said SDA Interim CEO Manuel Da Silva. “We know that quality educational facilities allow students to focus on learning. The new schools will ensure that students have the facilities they need to achieve academic success.”

-- Staff Writer

This week marks the last of the first days of school. In some school districts, classes have already been in session for several weeks, and they’ve been hot ones. Teachers are bringing fans from home and schools are closing because temperature control is too challenging. Alex, a teacher in the Bay Area, says conditions in her school have been particularly bad this year; many buildings in the region are not designed for high heat, thanks to the historically temperate climate. Her classroom doesn’t have openable windows, so she uses a fan to try to suck air in from the cooler hallway, but it’s not enough. “Students will ask to go to the bathroom more often just to get into the hallway where it’s cooler,” she told TalkPoverty. She said the heat makes students feel sluggish and unfocused, a problem particularly acute for young women in her class who struggle with body image, and stay tightly wrapped up even in high temperatures. “I also notice that I tend to run out of Energy a lot faster on hot days.” Not ideal for a high school teacher trying to keep order in a classroom of 16-year-olds, even one who loves her job and is passionate about education. This is a problem that’s only going to get worse due to the confluence of rising temperatures thanks to climate change — average temperatures in the U.S. could increase by as much as 12 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100 and have already risen several degrees since 1900 — and declining school funding. Schools that don’t overheat today are going to in the future. Education budgets were cut deeply during the Great Recession and some states haven’t returned to their pre-Recession funding levels; capital spending across the country hasn’t recovered to pre-recession levels either. As a result, schools that urgently need temperature control updates along with other infrastructure improvements face an uphill struggle to increase their budgets.

-- S.E. Smith

While students enjoyed summer vacation, crews have been hard at work freshening up school campuses throughout the county. In addition to seismic upgrades at some schools, pavement projects across the Roseburg school district and a Yoncalla gym update entering its third phase. Repairs and renovations are nearly complete at the Douglas High School cafeteria. The Douglas High roof and beams were damaged in February’s snowstorm. Along with the repairs, new insulation is being added to improve Energy efficiency. Properly installed drainage sumps, which will allow for effective water removal, are also being added. Construction will still be going when school starts next week. “They are going to still be wrapping up, like putting on the ceiling tiles and hooking up the kitchen again,” Winston-Dillard Superintendent Kevin Miller said. Miller said potentially unsafe areas will be taped or fenced off. Repairs should be completed by the second week of September. At the Roseburg school district, Physical Plant Manager Tracy Grauf said minor work included pavement projects on playgrounds at Green, Eastwood, Hucrest and Winchester elementary schools, updates to the Jo Lane Middle School bus lane and the entryway to Sunnyslope Elementary. “We are basically cleaning up some rough playgrounds, some driveways that were failing and walkways that were failing and stuff like that,” Grauf said.

-- Erica Welch

Members float lobbying for a state cellphone tax. For decades, state has taxed landlines to pay for capital needs at universities, colleges and K-12 districts. School Board members plan to lobby state legislators for more capital dollars to cover new construction and maintenance. One idea: Ask the lawmakers to add a cellphone tax. For nearly 50 years there has been a tax on landline phones, cable television and electricity to pay for school capital needs. That program, called Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO), has paid state universities, colleges and K-12 school districts billions of dollars through the decades for new construction and maintenance. But the fund is shrinking because there are fewer landline phones and cable subscribers statewide and more Energy-efficient products, especially air conditioners. The School Board is discussing this lobbying effort because half of Marion County’s schools are more than 50 years old. Air conditioning systems are failing, new roofs are needed, and officials fear they may never catch up on routine maintenance if the state doesn’t begin ponying up more PECO dollars soon. Marion County Public Schools received only $896,000 in PECO maintenance funds in 2018-19 and will receive nothing in 2019-20. The money is used for 47 campuses that serve 43,000 students. The crisis means that 82 percent of the School District’s list of projects for the next five years is unfunded. The district will only have $76.4 million, all from a local capital property tax, of the $429.7 million needed to renovate and maintain its campuses and dozens of district offices through 2024. And now the district is faced with spending $21 million on costly repairs of aging administrative buildings or using that money to build a new office complex. The board believes that it makes financial sense to build a new complex. Robert Knight, the district’s facilities director, said that the board must find a new funding source because “it’s clear the state does not intend to be a major player when it comes to (capital) funding.” Knight said the district has gotten no money from the state for new construction in a decade and very little ($5 million in 10 years) for maintenance.

-- Joe Callahan

CAMDEN, Maine — Two months ago, the town of Camden was shot down in its bid to purchase state-owned land with the intention of building a municipal solar farm. But officials in the local school district have a solar farm plan of their own. They just hope a vernal pool doesn’t squash the possibility of the proposal coming to fruition. “It’s still up in the air. There are a lot of people invested in the concept and the idea, and we’re trying to make it happen,” School Administrative District 28 and Five Town Community School District Superintendent Maria Libby said Wednesday. District officials are working with ReVision Energy and Aligned Climate Capital on a proposal to use 14 acres, owned by the school district, adjacent to Camden Hills Regional High School for a 1- to 1.5-megawatt solar farm. The solar farm would be built by ReVision Energy, financed and owned by Aligned Climate Capital and would provide electricity to the high school and potentially other schools within the district, Libby said. The school board gave approval last month for school officials to pursue the project on land owned by the school district.

-- Lauren Abbate

ROY (ABC4 News) – Roy Junior High School will be the first school in Utah to build with insulated concrete forms that will make the school safe for students and save taxpayer money. School officials say they are doing this to cut back in costs. They say on average a school pays more than $7,000 a month in Energy bills. School officials say this will help save money on Energy and keep the school safe in the event of a fire and natural disasters. The special concrete will also reduce sound transfer between classrooms, the gymnasium, cafeteria, and music rooms providing students with a quieter learning environment.

-- Staff Writer

Referendum. It’s not a word Janesville School Board member Kevin Murray wanted to say out loud, but he thought the public needed to know. Neither new buildings nor remodeling are driving the need for more money. Instead, it’s the less-glamorous prospect of addressing an estimated $120.43 million worth of building maintenance: aging boilers, replacement of air-handling units, asbestos abatement, updating electrical panels and new windows. At a May 28 meeting, the board discussed the maintenance needs cited by Unesco, a Madison-based program management firm. Of the $120.43 million in projects, an estimated $77.84 million worth of items are in the “alert” or “alarm” category, according to the firm’s report. The report isn’t a surprise. For years, the board’s finance, buildings and grounds committee has whittled away at the Unesco list. The projects were funded either through the district’s capital improvement budget or through Act 32. Act 32, which the Legislature passed in 2009, allowed school districts to exceed state-imposed revenue caps for projects that resulted in Energy savings. Revenue caps limit the amount of money districts can raise. If a district needs more money, a referendum is often the only option.

-- Catherine Idzerda

WASHINGTON — A school district in southern Ohio has closed its middle school because of concerns of radioactive contamination from a shuttered uranium enrichment plant fewer than five miles away. The Scioto Valley Local School District announced it was closing Zahn’s Corner Middle School on Monday after U.S. Department of Energy officials said they had no plans to stop their work at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a 3,000–acre facility that stopped producing enriched uranium in 2001. Energy Department contractors are building a waste disposal site on the plant as they work to clean up the site. Board of Education President Brandon K. Wooldridge said the district is working with the Ohio Department of Education to make up the eight remaining days in the school year for students. The school has a population of about 360, he said. County Health Department officials became concerned about contamination after the recent release of a 2017 Energy Department report that said the DOE found traces of neptunium at an air-monitoring station on the grounds of the middle school. Neptunium is a carcinogen linked to bone cancers. In a statement, the Department of Energy confirmed that trace amounts of neptunium were found in two ambient air-monitoring stations near the plant. “Even though the detected levels were well below the established thresholds of concern for public health, DOE is taking immediate steps to obtain independent soil and air quality samples in the surrounding area, and will take all appropriate actions to address community concerns,” the statement read.

-- Jessica Wehrman

DEKALB Co., Ind. (WANE) - DeKalb County School Officials were hoping to upgrade and renovate three schools but a referendum did not pass Tuesday. The DeKalb County Central Schools Referendum failed, only reaching 42% of the vote out of 4,420 votes. The upgrades and renovations were for James R. Watson Elementary School, DeKalb Middle School and DeKalb High School. "My first thoughts were 'very disappointing,'" said Superintendent Steve Teders. "Certainly a lot of effort, a lot of Energy went into the facilities upgrade. It was really a three year process to get to where were at last night." He had been cautiously optimistic. "I was surprised by the separation between the yes and the no," he said. "I'm not sure how else to think about the number. I thought it would be much closer than that." The referendum included building a larger cafeteria for the elementary school, installing lighting and flooring at the middle school and replacing the boilers at the high school. It also included adding new sidewalks and athletic improvements to the schools. In total, the district was seeking a $37.6 million bond issuance. Many voters weren't supportive of everything the district was asking for, such as a new multipurpose fieldhouse. 

-- Kaitor Kay

It’s early in the planning process, but at this point, Bar Harbor residents can expect that any renovation or replacement of the town’s K-8 school will cost somewhere between $10 million and $32 million. Bar Harbor has spent $2.7 million over the past 20 years on fixes and improvements at Conners Emerson School, which consists of two, unconnected school buildings on an 11-acre site on the edge of the town’s downtown village. Rather than just continuing to spend more money on maintaining the aging buildings, local school officials said Tuesday that they’ve decided to take a serious look at whether the town should significantly renovate or replace them. Barbara Neilly, principal of the school, said that local officials would like to improve the Energy efficiency of the buildings, which have outdated boilers, poor insulation and have had their windows replaced — sometimes more than once. In February, a leak in a sprinkler system flooded the Emerson building, she said, and the roofs of both buildings need frequent attention. “We’re always doing roof repairs, and it’s pricey,” Neilly told a group of roughly 50 parents, staffers and town officials who gathered Tuesday night at the school.

-- Bill Trotter

Ahead of a meeting with President Donald Trump this week on infrastructure, the top two Democrats in Congress want to make sure that schools get consideration if the federal government takes action.  In a Monday letter to Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., name-checked school infrastructure in a list of areas where improvements to infrastructure are vital for the country's future. "To truly be a gamechanger for the American people, we should go beyond transportation and into broadband, water, Energy, schools, housing and other initiatives," Pelosi and Schumer told Trump. The Washington Post reported that among the Democrats slated to meet with Trump about infrastructure is Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who is the top Democrat on the Senate education committee. She might be as good as, or better than, any other lawmaker in the meeting to make the case for any big infrastructure spending bill to include schools. Trump himself talked up the idea of spending money to fix up schools when he ran for president, but when his administration has floated general ideas for infrastructure, schools haven't made the list.  House Democrats have introduced legislation that would authorize federal aid for school repair, construction, and modernization. Earlier this year, the House education committee backed legislation to provide $100 billion for K-12 infrastructure, including $70 billion in direct federal spending.

-- Andrew Ujifusa

WEST PLAINS, Mo. -- Once school is out in roughly two weeks, renovation work will begin for the West Plains School District that will improve Energy efficiency and safety for the entire district. The West Plains School District will be spending nearly $4 million over the summer to make district-wide facility improvements. Windows and lights will be included, but the main project is replacing the roof, to make it safer for staff and students. "A building where you have ceiling tiles falling out due to roof leaks, is not conducive to learning," West Plains School Board President Jim Thompson told KY3. For the past few months, the West Plains School Board has listened to concerns brought forth by students and teachers about falling ceiling tiles in classrooms. "To see our buildings in the shape their in, it really hurts, Thompson said. So their's a pride issue and then the safety aspect." At the most recent board meeting, a contract for $3.9 million in facility renovations was approved. A large portion of that will go towards repairing and replacing more than 67,000 square feet of roofing.

-- Michael Deere

The final price tag for the construction costs of a new Kennedy Middle School is $79.1 million, more than $8 million under budget, according to the project’s building committee. Committee Chairman Stephen Meyler said savings are coming from using less expensive materials, such as composite versus brick, that don’t sacrifice quality. An Energy-efficient design for the four-story, 183,250-square-foot building also provides savings, Meyler said. Construction is expected to start March 27, and be completed in January 2022. Braight Builders Corporation of Marshfield is the general contractor, after a 6-0 School Committee vote Monday. Board member Paul Laurent was not present. The town went with a new building, because the expectation is it will cost less than fixing up the 54-year-old middle school. The Massachusetts School Building Authority could reimburse Natick up to $37.3 million of project costs. The actual amount is determined when the MSBA reviews the project near completion.

-- Henry Schwan

Horry County officials revealed Tuesday the State Law Enforcement Division is investigating the construction of five new schools.  The work, done by Raleigh firm Firstfloor Energy Positive, totaled more than $200 million. It has been under close scrutiny by local media for years, partly because it was the most expensive bid submitted when Horry County sought a builder. Last May, the nonprofit group Public Access to Public Records requested several documents related to the project. It was in response to records requests that Horry County Schools spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier sent a statement to media Tuesday acknowledging the investigation.  “The district has and will continue to comply with South Carolina laws pertaining to the Freedom of Information Act, but at the same time, the district will not release information that would compromise a law enforcement investigation,” she wrote.  A spokesman for SLED did not immediately return a phone call Tuesday. 

-- Chloe Johnson

A formula created in 2004 to ensure the state was giving poor cities and towns enough help building new schools includes a quirk that some say is now hurting the same communities it was meant to help. “It perpetuates inequity,” said state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, who introduced a bill to change the formula. The Massachusetts School Building Authority provides state funding for school building projects that is matched with money from cities and towns. The state covers between 40 percent and 80 percent of eligible construction costs. The size of the state match is calculated based on a formula that reflects how poor the community is — so poorer communities get more money. The state funding does not cover the full percentage of construction costs because certain expenses are ineligible for reimbursement, like legal fees or asbestos removal. There is also a cap on the total amount the state is willing to pay per square foot, which is virtually always lower than the actual cost. So, an 80 percent reimbursement rate generally means that around 62 percent of costs are actually covered. The program also allows communities to apply for “incentive points,” which raise the size of the state match. Districts get points for things like building Energy efficient facilities, regionalizing a school district, renovating existing buildings or adopting best practices for maintenance.

-- Shira Schoenberg

Great communities are centered on great schools that help boost the quality of life for everyone. Strong schools are critical for boosting today’s families and for building tomorrow’s leaders and workforce. That's why extension of the SAVE (Securing an Advanced Vision for Education) program for our schools is essential.  In 2008, the Legislature approved making a statewide sales tax a permanent source of revenue for improving school buildings across the state. This allows schools to ensure students have quality learning environments while preserving general fund dollars for direct education costs. Des Moines Public Schools has secured more than $243 million to improve buildings, including security and technology and to boost Energy efficiency for cost savings and the environment. West Des Moines Community Schools has made improvements to nearly every building over the past decade, including upgrading mechanical systems, science labs and art rooms, improving security, and updating technology.

-- Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, House District 43

Aging, run-down educational facilities show the Legislature’s failure to adequately fund infrastructure needs at the state’s public schools, colleges and universities. The problem has gotten so bad that Alachua County voters last fall passed a sales tax increase to fund facility improvements at local K-12 schools. As the University of Florida struggles to keep up with repairs of campus buildings, officials are seeking $38.1 million in state funding this upcoming legislative session for facility upgrades. The state’s main source for funding construction and repairs of educational facilities, the Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) program, has lacked adequate funding to meet statewide needs in recent years. The program is funded through a tax on utilities and telecommunications services, which has brought in declining revenues due to Energy conservation and people dropping cable television and landline phones. To make matters worse, lawmakers have diverted funding from traditional public schools to charter schools. This year, Gov. Ron DeSantis proposes spending $50 million on traditional public school facilities and $155.5 million on charter school facilities — even though there are around 4,000 traditional public schools and only about 654 charter schools in the state. Ideally lawmakers would raise the PECO tax or, better yet, establish a more stable funding source. But such reforms are a remote possibility in a GOP-controlled Legislature that opposed tax increases and new taxes even before a state constitutional amendment was passed that requires a two-thirds majority of both chambers to approve them.

-- The Gainesville Sun editorial board

Learning how earthworms improve the soil. Writing letters to elected officials about cleaning up trash. Testing water quality. Planting native trees. Labeling storm drains. These are a few of the ways students in Maryland’s designated “green schools” are learning about – and affecting – the environment. Currently, 27% of the state’s schools carry the green school certification. A bill before the General Assembly would seek to increase that number to 50%. The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee on Wednesday heard from witnesses supporting SB662, sponsored by Senate President Mike Miller, Sen. Nancy King, D-Montgomery, who chairs the committee, and Sen. Paul Pinsky, D-Prince George’s. It was a snowy day that closed schools, enabling Susan Collard, an 11th grader at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, to travel to Annapolis to testify without missing classes. She is the daughter of Laura Johnson Collard, executive director of the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE). The budding environmentalist has attended green schools throughout elementary, middle and high school. “They’ve helped me become a more environmentally conscious person,” she told lawmakers. She recalled helping plant a garden in elementary school, attending an environmental Youth Summit, and participating in her high school Green Club, which led a push for the school to replace old-style light bulbs with lower-Energy LED bulbs.

-- Diane Rey

“Thinking outside of the box” is one of the most clichéd phrases of all time, but it’s still a pretty good strategy when it comes to handling many difficult situations and it certainly is the strategy that the Guilford County Board of Education and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners are considering in light of hundreds of millions of dollars in capital projects that school system officials want to see in the coming years. The Guilford County commissioners and school board members have a major facilities meeting coming up on Thursday, Jan. 31 and, heading into that meeting, the discussion is centered around innovative ways to save money on school projects going forward. Most of those in the conversation agree that the first step in the process is putting underused schools to better use – but there’s also expected to be a need for some new construction in the coming years and one thing many seem to agree on is that Guilford County’s current method of building schools may have to be replaced. One option, for instance, is a long-term lease-to-buy plan on specially built low Energy consumption schools.  In one model, a third party – perhaps a non-profit – builds the structure with Energy-efficiency as a priority, gets grants and tax breaks associated with that method of construction, leases the building to the school system for five or ten years as part of a lease-to-own program, which also means the school enjoys radically reduced Energy costs.  In other parts of the country, versions of that model have been successful and have shaved millions off the usual cost of simply building and moving in. Guilford County Board of Education Member Pat Tillman said that he and other school officials have been researching non-traditional school funding and construction methods that seem to be working well elsewhere. “With the traditional way we fund schools, we are never going to catch up,” Tillman said.

-- Scott D. Yost

BEDFORD — A $3 million bond for various Energy efficiency projects throughout the district is being proposed to try to save money on electricity and fuel costs. All of the projects included in the bond are expected to have a complete return on their investment within 10 years, according to Jay Nash, school board chairman. The improvements include new LED lighting, fuel switches, pipe insulation, numerous building controls, kitchen upgrades, heating and ventilation updates and more.   “The bond is to invest in Energy efficiency projects and Energy infrastructure,” said Nash. Last year, local voters approved spending up to $93,000 on an Energy efficiency feasibility study. Now, some of the recommendations from that study are being proposed in the $3,057,814 bond. On average, the district spends a total of nearly $900,000 a year on Energy costs, according to data collected throughout the past decade. Heating costs about $335,933 a year, while it costs about $236,272 a year to operate mechanical equipment. Lighting the schools costs about $161,094 a year, while plug loads cost nearly $140,000 a year, according to information previously presented to the school board. To save on some of these costs, improvements are being proposed at every school in the district, as well as the central office.

-- KIMBERLY HOUGHTON

Warren County Public Schools’ board of education advanced a slew of construction and renovation projects Thursday, including plans to replace Cumberland Trace Elementary School, add an auxiliary gym at Greenwood High School and other pro-jects. During the board’s monthly meeting, CMTA project manager Chad Riggs also gave an update on the district’s Guaranteed Energy Savings Project, which represents a $30 million investment in improving its Energy systems. “Today we’re about 82 percent” complete with the project, Riggs said. “So it’s going well.” The project involves adding Energy-efficient lighting to schools, underground geothermal heating and cooling systems and solar panels. More than 900 panels were installed at the new Jennings Creek Elementary School. So far, after one year of construction, Riggs said the district has saved about $630,000. Once the project is completed, he said the district should see a savings of $830,000 a year. Chris McIntyre, the district’s chief financial officer, previously told the Daily News that money will be used to pay off a $28 million bond for the project. “This project allowed us to upgrade not only the lights but also the HVAC units,” McIntyre said Thursday, adding that new HVAC systems run more efficiently.

-- Aaron Mudd

A significant amount of improvements to Dothan’s public schools will need to be made in a short amount of time and the school board will be asked to fund those improvements next week. The Dothan City Board of Education received a comprehensive review of repair, maintenance, and reconfiguration needs at each of the city’s schools. Many of those repairs and reconfiguration plans must be complete before the 2019-20 school year begins in August due to the board’s vote in November to reconfigure the school system. The board will be asked next week to authorize the superintendent to engage in a $15 million bond issue to fund many of the improvements. Additionally, the system could leverage an additional $5 million to $7 million through Energy savings that can be put toward more improvements. The board will vote Tuesday, Jan. 22, at 5 p.m. at its regularly scheduled meeting at Beverlye Magnet School.

-- Lance Griffin

• Puerto Rico Education Secretary Julia Keleher told Education Week that it will cost $11 billion and take from three years to seven years to bring the U.S. territory’s 856 public schools up to new building codes after they were devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
• Keleher said she will try to secure $100 million of unspent Federal Emergency Management Agency Category B financial assistance, which pays for urgent health and safety work like mold remediation.  In a December 2018 press release, FEMA said work on the schools will focus on resiliency and Energy efficiency. 
• Puerto Rico’s schools are also able to tap into approximately $1 billion of long-term construction work at 64 schools, which are supposed to be a realistic sampling of the type of work that is needed at all of the island’s educational facilities. Work on those 64 structures will better inform the Puerto Rico Department of Education as to how much total construction costs will be.

-- Kim Slowey

Folsom Cordova Unified School District (FCUSD) in California formed a partnership with Johnson Controls to improve the lighting infrastructure in eight schools. An Energy savings performance contract that projects $4.8 million savings over 20 years is enabling the retrofit, the district says. The $3.9 million improvements include installing intelligent LED lighting fixtures to help modernize school infrastructure, initiate Energy savings throughout the expanding district, and improve the environment for student and faculty performance. Each lighting unit will be manually dimmable and have a daylight harvesting sensor to automatically dim fixtures if natural light is available, Johnson Controls and the school district say. In addition, the fixtures have motion sensors that interconnect with all the other lighting elements in a room to reduce the amount of equipment and wiring required. FCUSD is located in eastern Sacramento County and serves more than 20,000 students in 32 schools across Folsom and Rancho Cordova. School district officials collaborated with Johnson Controls Performance Infrastructure leaders to develop a project installation plan. Besides an Energy savings contract, the plan utilizes funds granted by Energymanagertoday.com/tag/proposition-39/" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(59, 79, 103); text-decoration-line: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank">Proposition 39, the California Clean Energy Jobs Act. Installation is expected to take eight months, according to FCUSD and Johnson Controls. “Proposition 39 allows the school district to receive the money upfront to design and build the project, and still receive the expected payback in reduced utility costs of an equal or greater amount through the Energy savings performance contract,” said Mike Kozlowski, performance infrastructure account executive at Johnson Controls.
-- Alyssa Danigelis

WEYMOUTH — Planners say providing natural light, opportunities for students to be active and good air quality would make a new Chapman Middle School more efficient and create a better learning environment, all while saving the town money on the project. Residents and town officials gathered Wednesday with staff from HMFH Architects for the second sustainability workshop for the proposed new Chapman Middle School. The group focused on ways to achieve the primary goals created in the first workshop, to make the building Energy efficient and resilient, boost natural light and indoor air quality, and encourage an active lifestyle. Weymouth is asking the Massachusetts School Building Authority to help pay for the construction of the building, which would house the district’s 1,470 students in grades six through eight, as part of a reorganization plan that town officials say is the best approach for addressing the aging middle school. The authority’s board of directors voted last month to allow the school building committee to develop a detailed scope, budget and timeline for the project with the help of its project manager, Hill International, and designer, HMFH Architects. The state provides incentives to increase the Energy efficiency and sustainability for new construction. Districts that construct schools that exceed Massachusetts Energy base code by 20 percent receive additional reimbursement.

-- Jessica Trufant

NEWTON — The Jasper County School District will get some financial help from those making purchases in the county with a new 1 percent sales tax approved Nov. 6. Known as the 1 Cent County School Facilities Sales Tax, Jasper County voters said yes to the tax earlier this month, with nearly 63 percent in favor of it. It is estimated the sales tax could potentially generate about $800,000 for the district to help finance school renovations and construction. The uses of the sales tax are for new facilities, additions and renovations, technology infrastructure, architectural work, fire prevention and life-safety work, land acquisition, Energy efficiency, parking lots, demolition and roof repairs.   The dollars cannot be applied to direct instructional costs, textbooks, buses, furniture and fixtures that are movable, operating costs and salaries. Jasper County Superintendent Andrew Johnson said the passage allows the school district to fund school facility needs without relying solely on property taxes. Approximately 30 percent of the revenue will come from residents outside of the county, which is a similar breakdown of the school facilities tax that passed in Richland County in March, Johnson said. The sales tax does not apply to anything not currently taxed, such as groceries and unprepared food, medications, farm equipment, mobile homes, vehicles, boats and RVs. Jasper County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Natalie Hopson said many businesses supported the tax.

-- Dawn Schabbing

Washington County Public Schools currently has $63.5 million worth of unfunded routine maintenance and replacement projects, with approximately $53.9 million at school facilities. According to a school system report for fiscal year 2020, the total figure includes $9.2 million in projects to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, many of which can only be fixed with a major facility renovation. The report, which the Board of Education approved 6-0 on Tuesday, will be sent to the state for approval. Board President Melissa Williams was not present for the vote. WCPS' unfunded maintenance increased approximately $8 million from last year’s report, partially due to construction costs rising over the past two years. Projects vary from roof and HVAC replacements to updating Energy conservation efforts. The highest priority maintenance projects total more than $28.2 million, according to the report. That includes more than $8.9 million in elementary schools, more than $7.1 million in middle schools and more than $12.8 million on the high school level. The highest priority projects to update facilities for ADA compliance would cost $238,530 for elementary schools, $308,760 for middle schools, $179,700 for high schools and $39,000 for other buildings, totaling $765,990.

-- Alexis Fitzpatrick

White River Junction — The Hartford School Board on Wednesday unanimously approved the seeking of a request for proposal for a project that would renovate the 106-year-old Wilder School building on Norwich Avenue. Since 1996, the brick structure has housed Hartford’s Regional Alternative Program, or RAP, for up to 35 students from throughout the Upper Valley with behavioral issues. The building has fallen into disrepair, with code-deficient doors, lack of handicap accessibility, unfavorable learning environments, cracked steps, leaky roof areas and a lack of Energy efficiency caused by old windows among its most pressing deficiencies. In a presentation to the School Board, members of the Wilder School Building Committee highlighted those issues and recommended that students from the Hartford Autism Regional Program, or HARP — a 16-student program that currently is housed in a small, rented space on Palmer Court — move into the Wilder School building, once renovated, to help combine resources. Hartford Superintendent Tom DeBalsi and School Board member Peter Merrill are liaison members of the Wilder Building Committee, which also includes Geisel School of Medicine Director of Facilities David Harris, a Wilder resident; Kristin Haney, a Windsor resident and grandmother of a current RAP student; HARP Director Jessica Poludin, and other interested parties. Since being formed nearly 1½ years ago, the committee has explored options including the closing and selling of the town-owned school while seeking another facility to house RAP and HARP. Board members eventually decided renovation was the most viable option available.

-- Jared Pendak

RUSTBURG —The Campbell County School Board has unanimously approved plans from Southern Air for a new HVAC system for Brookville Middle School. Brookville Middle currently has a multi-zone HVAC system that was installed when the school was built in 1974. TJ Morton, senior mechanical design engineer for Southern Air, said the current system is Energy inefficient, provides poor indoor air quality management, has old pneumatic controls that are difficult to maintain due to its age and has refrigerant circuits with Freon R-22 — a common refrigerant used in air conditioners that will be phased out across the country by 2020 — or inefficient replacement refrigerants. “You currently have one of the most Energy inefficient systems we’ve ever seen,” Southern Air President Paul Denham told school board members during their meeting Monday. Southern Air has proposed Campbell County Public Schools invest in a Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) with dedicated outdoor air units to provide ventilation air for the school. The system will cost about $3.5 million and may vary slightly depending on the detailed design.

-- Liz Ramos

DENVER -- An oil and gas site currently cannot be within 1,000 feet from a school's physical building. Some believe that doesn't goes far enough. On Monday, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission advanced a measure to take a closer look at how close oil and gas operations take place near school property line. A proposed rule change would make it so it is 1,000 feet from the school's property line. Throughout the meeting supporters said children often are on the playgrounds and at football stadiums -- finding themselves much closer to well pads. "We are starting to have to have [school] evacuations because of the oil and gas industry,"  Abby Maltie, a parent from Thornton, said. Bella Romera School in Greeley has been the subject of this debate most notably.  Energy leaders opposed an industry line property line set back. "School property lines are highly variable and there are often sections of those properties that are hardly utilized," Scott Prestige, a spokesman with the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said.

-- Joe George

CARLSBAD — Last week, the Carlsbad Unified School District approved a $265 million bond question to put on the November ballot. The district needs 55 percent of Carlsbad voters to approve the measure, which Superintendent Dr. Ben Churchill and district board of trustees President Ray Pearson said is for needed facilities upgrades. Two of the other primary focuses, they said, are upgrading school security including fence lines and points of entry and Energy costs. Pearson said the recent school shootings is a concern for the district, and noted Carlsbad suffered tragedy in 2010 at Kelly Elementary School when two children were shot. The students survived. Pearson said safety concerns also center on natural disasters, a nod to the 2014 Poinsettia Fire where Aviara Oaks middle and elementary schools were evacuated. “We’ve had a shooting before,” Pearson said. “There is a heightened concern and awareness for the safety of our students, staff, guests and administrators on campus. We want to make sure that our campuses and our facilities are as safe as possible.” Churchill said another focus is on incorporating solar power and sustainability measures to tackle the district’s second-largest line item, Energy use. Currently, it pays more than $2 million per year on Energy costs, and with the bond money and sustainable strategies, would pay off those solar costs in seven years.

-- Steve Puterski

AMHERST — With students still a month and a half away from heading going back to school, one would expect the hallways and campuses of Amherst’s Public Schools to be silent, peacefully and quietly awaiting the rush of Energy that is the first day of school. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead of silence during a weekday visit to one of the district’s five schools earlier this month, one could hear the low hum of an industrial carpet cleaner, the clanging of metal chairs being dragged across the ground and the voices of those who work to maintain and improve on the town’s public school facilities. One of those voices belongs to Qusiem Raines, who works as a member of the maintenance staff for Wildwood Elementary School. Raines works tirelessly to prepare the school for the upcoming year, moving the furniture from every room of the school so that he can shampoo the carpets. Across the Valley, it is busy time for people like Raines who work cleaning and repairing school facilities in anticipation of September. Unfortunately for Raines, the air conditioning is broken at Wildwood, making the school as hot and humid as it usually is outside, if not more so.

-- Mack Cooper

Seaside >> The Martin Luther King, Jr., School of the Arts just became the “greenest” school site in Monterey County now that its latest project is up and flowing. David Chandler, coordinator of renewable Energy and conservation at Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, unveiled a brand new student garden at the school. But, this is no ordinary garden. Chandler teamed up with DROPS Grant, the Drought Response Outreach Program for Schools, to help build a project designed to increase student awareness of environmental benefits and water resource sustainability.     Planning on the garden began in 2014 and construction was finished in June. So far, MLK has reduced water use by 53 percent and the school has saved a little more than $40,000. Chandler said MPUSD’s water budget would’ve been about $1.4 million instead of $800,000 without the new water conservation program. “This isn’t just a baby step, it’s a giant step,” Chandler said.

-- Juan Reyes

CLARKSBURG — Heating and cooling upgrades, revamping of floors and lighting improvements are among the many summer maintenance projects planned for area schools this summer. Harrison County Assistant Superintendent of Facilities and Operations Jimmy Lopez said some of the main projects they will be doing this summer come from the Energy Savings Group. This is Phase III of the savings project and includes: The boiler replacements and controls upgrades at three facilities, interior and exterior lighting improvements, a rooftop unit for heating and cooling in the cafeteria and gym at Washington Irving Middle School and a unit ventilator upgrade at Liberty High School.

-- Victoria Cann

Elk Grove High School has become one of the select few schools in the state to attain a noted environmental certification for its green operations and maintenance practices. The school was awarded the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Silver level certification for its building Energy use -- measuring everything from its electricity to water over a two-year period -- and processes and procedures put in place to reduce the building's environmental impact. "For the operations and maintenance department, this award is on par with the Blue Ribbon award for the instructional side," said Ted Birren, director of operations for Northwest Suburban High School District 214, who shared news of the designation at a school board meeting Thursday.

-- Christopher Placek

An advisory committee of state lawmakers is looking to subsidize public school building maintenance to maximize taxpayer investments. That is one of the main recommendations in a report released by the Public School Building Construction and Reconstruction Advisory Committee, state Rep. Joseph Markosek (D-25) said in a press release. Markosek, a member of the board and the Democratic chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the recommendations should yield a more efficient and cost-effective plan for the state’s subsidy, known as PlanCom, which is aimed at public school construction and renovation projects. “The committee conducted extensive interviews around the state, gathering input from school officials, parents, board members, architects, contractors and Energy specialists,” Markosek said.

-- Phillip Jackson

Gov. John Hickenlooper plans to sign several measures this week approved by the Colorado Legislature during this year's session, including bills to boost funding for school construction and a measure reauthorizing the Colorado Energy Office.

-- Charles Ashby

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed announced an ambitious infrastructure plan today, saying that addressing the problem of crumbling infrastructure in the state is a centerpiece of his campaign. El-Sayed is proposing a multi-sector statewide infrastructure bank devoted to investing in four key areas: transportation (including roads, bridges and public transit), water, school buildings, and Energy with a goal of bringing Michigan to 100 percent renewable Energy by 2050.

-- Virginia Gordan

As a farmworker in Orange Cove, one of California’s most impoverished cities, Lorena Gomez starts her day just past dawn, teetering on a ladder to pluck fruit and place it in a canvas sack that weighs heavily across her chest. Despite this grueling work, Gomez, a 31-year-old single mother, manages to drum up the Energy twice a week to attend an evening Zumba class at a local middle school, her 10-year-old daughter, Katelyn, often twirling by her side on the dance floor. “You go to the fields, cook, clean, take a quick shower and then you go to Zumba,” Gomez said of her routine, which has helped her lose 30 pounds and “made me feel more pretty,” she added. “The Zumba relaxes me.”

-- Patricia Leigh Brown

A renovation project that would target local schools was discussed at Thursday's board meeting in Regional School Unit 73, with the board proposing to utilize Energy savings to reduce annual debt payments. The $5,874,764 project would impact the Spruce Mountain elementary, middle and high schools on the Jay campus, the Spruce Mountain Primary School in Livermore and the district's central office and bus garage. The project would replace boilers, retrofit lighting systems, repair roofs and generally improve the buildings' envelopes to improve Energy efficiency. A key improvement would include replacing the existing SMES boiler - equipment the board says may not pass inspection this year - and ensuring that each school had two boilers to supply heat.

-- Ben Hanstein

The proposed plan includes Energy-conservation measures in schools, repairs to fire headquarters and design funds for a Tri-Town water treatment plant.

-- Fred Hanson

The news cycle is spinning with such ferocity that it may be hard to remember that it was only a couple of weeks ago that infrastructure was Topic A, with the Trump administration announcing a new initiative to fix America’s potholed roads, repair its spavined bridges, and spiff up its Energy delivery systems. But even while the general focus has shifted, Berkeley engineers and public policy analysts are thinking about possible remedies to our infrastructure woes.

-- Glen Martin

A Latrobe-based firm whose specialties include reclaiming waste coal has agreed to find an alternate use for the current Latrobe Elementary School — once it is replaced by a new building under construction nearby at Latrobe's Old Athletic Field. The Greater Latrobe School Board on Tuesday approved by resolution an agreement to sell the century-old building to Robindale Energy Services for $450,000. The new school is expected to be ready for students and staff to occupy for the fall 2018 academic semester. In an email response to questions Thursday, Robindale Vice President and CFO Judson Kroh said the company wants to move its headquarters to the school, converting classrooms to office space.

-- Jeff Himler

Lopez Island School District has been awarded a $1.8 million state capital grant to add safety, Energy conservation, and health projects to the school’s overall renovation program. “We’ve fought long and hard for this funding for the school and Lopez,” stated John Helding, school board president. “Our county council and particularly our state legislators, Kristine Lytton, Jeff Morris and Kevin Ranker, supported us the whole way and were instrumental in helping us secure these funds.”

TOMS RIVER, NJ — If you've been wondering about the Toms River Regional School District's plans to address problems with the district's school buildings, now is your opportunity to find out. Information sessions begin Tuesday and will be held at every school in the district to present information and allow residents and families to ask questions about the proposed Energy Savings Improvement Program and a proposed referendum.

-- Karen Wall

During a Board of Education meeting Thursday, Jan. 18, Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Thomas delved into the specifics of the $5.5 million vote Newfield voters will weigh in on Tuesday, Feb. 13. The vote was referenced in the January Newfield Newsletter, and Thomas cleared up the specifics �" and how the $5.5 million would not cost the taxpayers any money. The money will be used to make necessary repairs and renovations throughout the district, namely the gymnasium floors; cafeteria kitchens; the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems; and the lighting used in the schools. Thomas said these renovations would go underway to improve the safety of the schools and also provide more Energy efficiency to the already existing systems.

-- Christie Citranglo

The Berkeley School Board green-lit a $27 million reconstruction project at Oxford Elementary School on Friday, Jan. 12. The project, slated to break ground sometime during 2019, will be funded with existing revenue from Berkeley Unified’s 2010 Measure I school facilities bond. The district plans to modernize the whole elementary school, reconstructing the multipurpose room and cafeteria, adding new and larger classrooms as well as bathrooms in younger classrooms, improving accessibility and installing Energy-efficiency features including solar paneling.

-- Natalie Orenstein

VERGENNES �" The Addison Northwest School District Board will probably propose to voters a $7.6 million bond on Town Meeting Day that would fund a long list of Energy efficiency, fire safety and security upgrades at all four district schools. And board members believe that bond can be mostly or even completely paid for without increasing taxes.

-- Andy Kirkaldy

Humble Independent School District once again was rewarded for Energy efficiency through the CenterPoint Energy and CLEAResult SCORE program, announced Melissa Crizer, the district's Energy manager. Humble ISD partners with CenterPoint Energy and CLEAResult to maximize Energy efficiency in the district. CenterPoint Energy incentivizes districts with financial rewards, which can then be used to fund future projects.

-- Melanie Feuk

The S.C. Board of Education has divvied up $55.8 million in previously approved money for facility improvements in 48 school districts, including the Berkeley County School District and Dorchester County School District 4. Berkeley County Schools will use $975,000 for building repairs related to Energy efficiency at Sedgefield Middle School, according to the S.C. Department of Education. Dorchester 4 will spend $1 million on toilet, parking and walkway renovations related to accessibility and safety.

-- Paul Bowers

Bates also compliments recent art trip to Chicago Looking to take advantage of a locked-in rate, the Crookston School Board this week approved an agreement with Johnson Controls, Inc. through November of 2020 that will have the contractor coordinating maintenance of HVAC equipment and Energy systems in the district’s buildings. Board Chair Frank Fee said the board had the option of approving only a one-year agreement, but by going with three years instead, the district will lock in at a 1 percent rate increase each year of the three-year deal. The district’s current agreement with Johnson Controls was set to expire on Nov. 30. With the new accord, the district will pay Johnson Controls $65,820 per year.

-- Mike Chirstopherson

When students begin classes at the new Jennings Creek Elementary School next fall, they’ll walk into a facility that uses a fraction of the Energy of a typical school. On Friday, the school stood as an example for concrete industry representatives who toured the school’s construction site to get a better understanding of its use of insulated concrete forms. “It seems like a perfect solution for our schools,” said Greg Mulder of the Iowa Ready Mixed Concrete Association.

-- Aaron Mudd

Architects and engineers who are building schools in other parts of the country, toured these schools being built with reinforced Insulated Concrete Forms. Builder say these forms provide more strength and Energy efficiency, and made construction quicker and easier for these four schools.

-- Gene Birk

Renewable Energy Company GroSolar Wednesday led officials in a ribbon-cutting that celebrates the completion of the Mohawk Valley Community College Solar project for the college’s Rome campus. On Wednesday, MVCC and groSolar officials welcomed project stakeholders and community members to celebrate the completion of construction.

-- Roger Seibert

Under sunny skies at Argonaut High School in Jackson, representatives from the Amador County Public Schools system and OpTerra Energy Services recently celebrated the official groundbreaking of the Amador GOLD program. The public-private partnership combines school infrastructure improvement and Energy-efficiency projects with STEM education for students. The infrastructure improvements include installation of solar-panelled shade structures at Amador High School in Sutter Creek and Argonaut High School, LED lighting fixture upgrades across 14 campuses and replacement of 95 outdated HVAC systems throughout the 15-school district. According to project specifications, these updates are expected to save the district more than $17 million over the next 20 years, eliminate 2,179 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually and bring an estimated 57 jobs to the rural community.

-- Jennifer Snyder

CONWAY, SC (WBTW) �" Staffers for Horry County Schools already had concerns about the construction schedule of three new schools before Monday. Any more delays would impact the start of school, the district’s executive director of facilities said in April. The builder, First Floor Energy Positive, announced new delays at Monday night’s school board meeting.

-- Ryan Webb

The board of the Des Moines West Side Chamber of Commerce voted in its March meeting to support House File 230, which would extend the Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) program, currently scheduled to sunset in 2029. This act was formerly known as the Local Option Sales and Services Tax for school infrastructure. We believe continued and sustained investment in our public school infrastructure is critical for the future of our community. In addition to educating our future leaders and workforce, there is a direct correlation between the most sought after schools and the most sought after neighborhoods. To put it simply, great schools fuel great communities. Since its adoption, Des Moines Public Schools has demonstrated responsible and effective use of its SAVE money. The district’s nearly 33,000 students are educated in 72 buildings that are an average of 65 years old. Despite these staggering enrollment numbers and aging facilities, the district has modernized its facilities to deliver quality education. New mechanical systems and window and door replacement have earned the district accolades for Energy efficiency. In addition, improved safety and expanded Career Tech programs have been made possible through SAVE revenue.

-- Matt Coen, Des Moines

CHEYENNE �" To help solve a looming school construction funding crisis, lawmakers introduced a bill Tuesday to amend the Wyoming Constitution to make school districts levy property taxes to pay for new facilities. The bill would require districts to levy a “special tax” as a condition to receive state money to construct school buildings. The Legislature could also withhold funds barring approval of the school district’s construction proposal. “There’s no funding mechanism whatsoever for school capital construction, so this is a way for the local district to have some skin in the game,” said Senate President Eli Bebout, one of the bill’s co-sponsors. Any excess taxes collected for a construction project would go back to the state, according to the bill. For around 15 years, Wyoming has funded school construction and major maintenance on coal lease bonuses, which is the money mineral companies pay to the federal government to mine land. Since the turn of the 21st century, Wyoming has spent more than $2 billion worth of coal lease bonus payments. But as the Energy sector continues its two-year downturn and the Obama administration effectively instituted a moratorium on coal leases, the payments have dried up: Gov. Matt Mead and lawmakers say the final $120 million coal lease bonus payments will be used during this two-year budget cycle.

-- Seth Klamann, Casper Star-Tribune

The money that pays for Wyoming school construction and maintenance is running out, and legislators say they still have no firm plan to address the pending shortfall. For more than a decade, capital construction on schools has been funded through coal lease bonuses, money paid to the state for the rights to mine land. More than $2.3 billion has been spent on school facilities during that time, lawmakers and Gov. Matt Mead have said, and around 100 buildings were built or renovated. But a downturn in the Energy economy has dried up that revenue stream, with the final $121 million coming in the current two-year budget cycle. “I don’t know where that funding stream is going to come from (now),” Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, said. “That’s the $10,000 question right there.” Twenty years ago, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled in Campbell County v. the State of Wyoming that the state had to deliver an equitable education to all students in Wyoming, from Jackson to Cheyenne. That decision changed how the entire education system was funded, including school capital construction. Before the ruling, when a district wanted to build a new school, it would have to raise money locally. Districts “would bond for it, and then they would assess somewhere in the order of six mills of property taxes,” said Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie.

-- Seth Klamann

COLUMBIA, MD — Maryland's first net-zero Energy school opens this week. Students at Wilde Lake Middle School on Monday returned from winter break to start the new year in their new building, which officials say will generate as much Energy as it takes in over the course of a year. A ribbon cutting and community open house at the new middle school will be held Sunday. The new Wilde Lake Middle School — built behind the old one — is double the size of the old structure, which will be demolished to make way for the bus loop and parking lot in the coming months. Despite its larger size, the new building will use half the Energy as the older one, according to Howard County public school officials, who said that solar power, geothermal HVAC and responsive lighting systems have been built into it. The previous building was constructed in 1969 and underwent one addition and one renovation. After exploring various alternatives, officials determined in 2013 that the best option was to replace the building to meet the anticipated enrollment increase in Columbia. The old school building could accommodate 500 students, while the new school has a capacity of 760, according to the Howard County Public School System.

-- Elizabeth Janney

As the proposal to build Bozeman’s second high school gets closer to a public vote, school officials recommend following Montana’s state standards for green construction, but some parents are concerned that may not go far enough. The Bozeman School Board is expected to vote in January on revising its policy for Energy conservation in new buildings, which hasn’t been updated since 1991. The school district’s long-range building committee has recommended using the state of Montana’s High Performance Building Standards, adopted in 2013, but with three changes. With those changes, the state standards would only apply to Bozeman’s new school buildings. The school district would keep using the federal Energy Star system to rate its buildings for Energy efficiency. And the School Board would decide case-by-case whether to seek a stamp of approval for new buildings from an outside agency. The last point is contentious. Superintendent Rob Watson told the School Board at its December meeting that the second high school would be built to LEED “silver” standards, “but we may not seek the plaque on the wall.”

-- Gail Schontzler

The state education department has identified renovations to the Bristol Bay Borough School as a priority yet again, but whether or not any work is funded will depend on what the Legislature does next year. The education department is recommending $130.3 million in state funding for 16 school construction projects next year, and $156.7 million in state funding for 106 major school maintenance efforts projects. Bristol Bay Borough's school renovation is ranked third on the list of 106, and the department recommended $9.7 million in state funding for the effort. Last year the Bristol Bay Borough project also ranked third, on a slightly smaller list of projects. The work needed at the Naknek school includes Energy efficiency improvements, and a variety of upgrades, including heating and roofing work. Last year, funding for the school renovations made it beyond the list and onto the governor's version of the state budget but ultimately $11 million to renovate the Bristol Bay Borough school was deleted from the Senate capital budget in mid-May, as discussions continued past the end of the regular session.

-- Molly Dischner