The Opportunity
Schools across the United States spend more than $8 billion per year on energy; the average school building wastes 25% of its energy, according to the U.S. Envi- ronmental Protection Agency (EPA 2011). Most schools have opportunities to reduce their energy usage, reduce carbon emissions, and invest in making their operations more resilient in extreme weather. Achieving this trifecta demonstrates sound financial management and positions the school to serve as a critical community resource in emergencies.
Reducing energy use creates ongoing utility cost sav- ings that districts can use to support student learning opportunities. In addition, upgrading to high-perfor- mance equipment—such as heat pumps for heating and cooling—can lead to healthier environments and reduce operations and maintenance costs. Moreover, schools can save money in the long run by adapting school buildings to prepare for extreme weather, avoiding costly repairs in the future. The National Institute of Building Sciences estimates that for every dollar spent on mitigation, we save $6 in future disaster costs (NIBS 2018). In 2020 alone, extreme weather caused $105 billion in insured losses in North America. Taking control of energy usage and costs and moving away from the volatile price of fossil fuels can bring more certainty and reliability to school district budgeting.
In the case of new construction, experience from the field shows that districts can build net-zero schools at or below the cost of so-called conventional schools (Torcel- lini, Allen, and McIntyre 2020).
The Strategies
The tips included here are based on Five Guiding Prin- ciples: How Schools Can Use American Rescue Plan Funding to Ensure Healthy, Resilient Facilities for Stu- dents and Reduce Energy Costs and Emissions, pub- lished by the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council and UndauntedK12.
Gather and review data. A critical first step for schools is to collect data on current operations—such as energy use, ventilation rates, and comfort metrics—for individual buildings and the district as a whole. Bench- marking buildings relative to standards for modern facilities and understanding sources of energy demand provide data with which to engage stakeholders in dis- cussing opportunities for improvements, savings, and emissions reductions. For energy, the standard measure of efficiency is energy-use intensity. Commonly thought of as the equiv- alent of miles per gallon for buildings, this measure is
asbointl.org
THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN—ALLOWABLE USES OF FUNDS
S
ection 2001. Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. Sec. (e)(2) Uses of Funds includes the following (this list is not exhaustive): (A) Any activity authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
(B) Any activity authorized by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
(D) Any activity authorized by the Carl D. Per- kins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006.
(G) Developing and implementing procedures and systems to improve the preparedness and response efforts of local educational agencies.
(H) Training and professional development for staff of the local educational agency on sanitation and minimizing the spread of infectious diseases.
(I) Purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean the facilities of a local educational agency, including buildings operated by such agency.
(J) Planning for, coordinating, and implement- ing activities during long-term closures, including providing meals to eligible stu- dents, providing technology for online learning to all students, providing guidance for carrying out requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and ensuring other educational services can continue to be provided consistent with all Federal, State, and local requirements.
(O) School facility repairs and improvements to enable operation of schools to reduce risk of virus transmission and exposure to envi- ronmental health hazards, and to support student health needs.
(P) Inspection, testing, maintenance, repair, replacement, and upgrade projects to improve the indoor air quality in school facilities, including mechanical and non- mechanical heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, filtering, purifica- tion and other air cleaning, fans, control systems, and window and door repair and replacement.
(R) Other activities that are necessary to main- tain the operation of and continuity of services in local educational agencies and continuing to employ existing staff of the local educational agency.
SCHOOL BUSINESS AFFAIRS | JULY/AUGUST 2021 23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
