America鈥檚 schools are crumbling.

There鈥檚 black mold in buildings in and . Classrooms in and lack proper heating and cooling. And there are persistent plumbing problems in and .

America鈥檚 aging school infrastructure is by one measure a nearly $90 billion problem. Federal leaders have acknowledged it but have declined to address it. Local school districts and state governments also haven鈥檛 solved it 鈥� in some cases, even after being ordered by a court to do so.

It鈥檚 a problem so big that one congressional candidate running to represent parts of Philadelphia 鈥� where the cost of repairing and upgrading public schools could cost up to 鈥� is making it the centerpiece of his campaign. After struggling to find solutions in the Pennsylvania Legislature, state Sen. Sharif Street, a Democrat, believes only the federal government has the resources to tackle this issue. He thinks a $500 billion block grant proposal could find bipartisan support in a Congress and a country deeply divided on the federal government鈥檚 role in education.

鈥淚f we don鈥檛 address this at a federal level and come up with a massive amount of money to do so, we鈥檙e going to constantly be in a space of choosing all bad options,鈥� Street said.

Those who lobby for the issue say Street鈥檚 proposal could put thousands of people to work, boost test scores, and strengthen communities. Street thinks it could 鈥� and must 鈥� be .

To make his case in Congress, Street must first get through a for the 3rd Congressional District on May 19. The winner of the primary is the heavy favorite to win the November election.

Regardless of whether Street wins the seat, advocates say it鈥檚 rare for a congressional candidate to make school infrastructure a key issue in a pitch to voters.

鈥淚t is absolutely viable, if Congress has the will to do it, and it would be transformative for America鈥檚 families and communities for decades to come,鈥� said Ally Talcott, executive director of the Build America鈥檚 School Infrastructure Coalition, of Street鈥檚 proposal. 鈥淚 think it is quite possibly one of the areas that could bring the country together.鈥�

But Street is where others have . Convincing conservatives to support sending $500 billion for school facilities through a Department of Education the Trump administration is working to dismantle would be a tough sell, even if local bond measures for school infrastructure continue to do well at the ballot box.

R. Richard Geddes, a nonresident senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute specializing in infrastructure policy, said he thinks school construction and maintenance is 鈥渁 huge sleeper issue鈥� that few are paying close attention to.

Still, for a proposal like Street鈥檚 to succeed and that money be spent efficiently, Geddes there should be conditions. He suggested requiring municipalities to to build 550 bridges, or setting up a federal credit program like .

Asking thousands of local education agencies to apply for some of the $500 billion pot would be 鈥渁 mess,鈥� and those districts wouldn鈥檛 reap the benefits of scale, Geddes said.

Cities and municipalities should also consider public-private partnerships, Geddes said. That could look like attaching a privately owned gym or coffee shop to a school building to generate revenue that could pay for a portion of the building maintenance.

Geddes said that could come with its own controversy, but 鈥渋t would still be better than what we have, which is a lack of creative thinking.鈥�

State and local funding lags for school infrastructure

To accommodate the baby boom generation, cities and towns built thousands of new schools. Since then, the fertility rate has declined, and post-pandemic . That鈥檚 left many school buildings half empty and costly to maintain.

State and local lawmakers typically patch up the worst infrastructure issues with small-dollar grants and emergency funds. But they their school facilities鈥� needs. As of 2023, 13 states contributed less than 10% toward local district investments in school construction and capital improvements, according to the 21st Century School Fund鈥檚 from last year. And 10 states made no contributions at all.

It鈥檚 estimated that the average annual gap between what districts are spending on their public school facilities and what is needed is nearly $90 billion nationally, according to the State of the Schools report.

It鈥檚 a crucial education issue that has been politically 鈥渙rphaned,鈥� despite recent history indicating it can be relatively popular with voters said Mary Filardo, a school construction finance expert and founder of the 21st Century School Fund. Voters approved in 2025, and they approved nearly 74% in 2024.

In May, Texas voters approved a $6.2 billion school bond 鈥� .

But local funding hasn鈥檛 been sufficient to meet all the needs. And in some places, like Philly, the school district lacks taxing authority altogether.

In Street鈥檚 hometown of Philadelphia, the school facilities crisis has become one of the most pressing political issues in the city. With a $300 million budget deficit and declining student population, the district is moving forward with a $3 billion plan to close 17 schools and modernize nearly 170 others.

. The district鈥檚 annual budget is $4.5 billion, yet estimates for the total cost to repair and upgrade its schools range from to nearly .

鈥淧hiladelphia is one of the great American cities. And it鈥檚 like, how did you let this get this bad?鈥� said Filardo.

Pennsylvania鈥檚 previous program to fund school repairs, known as PlanCon, . A new version has never received state funding.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no way that the city or the state at the local level can actually fully address those needs,鈥� Street said. 鈥淲e just can鈥檛 do it.鈥�

Street said his proposal, which he acknowledged is a starting point and could end up being much smaller than $500 billion, would have the Department of Education send out funding through an as-yet-undeveloped formula that factors in local population and needs.

The Philadelphia school district spends about $770 million on facilities a year, mostly on debt service and emergency repairs when roofs collapse or boilers fail, Filardo said. Those emergency repairs can end up costing more than regular maintenance and upkeep.

Filardo says for districts like Philly it鈥檚 a bit of a paradox: 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not spending enough, but they鈥檙e spending a lot, and they鈥檙e not getting as good a value from what they are spending.鈥�

Geddes said when cities and towns are faced with budget crises, 鈥渢he easiest thing to do in the world is defer maintenance.鈥� That goes for roads, sidewalks, and electrical grids as well as schools.

He suggested one condition of receiving federal funding could be locking in contracts that would commit municipalities to funding 10 or 12 years of proper maintenance in advance.

That maintenance will be critical, Filardo warned, as and the batter buildings and put extra pressure on electrical systems.

School infrastructure funded with 鈥榟odgepodge鈥� of federal policies

Talcott of the infrastructure coalition said the way the country currently treats school construction funding is via 鈥渁 hodgepodge of federal policies.鈥� Funding goes out piecemeal through several agencies and departments including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Education, and the Department of Energy.

A bill in Congress aims to take on the problem, but it鈥檚 a far cry from the $500 billion Street is seeking.

The co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, and U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat, would set aside $100 billion in direct grants and $30 billion in bonding authority over five years for school construction.

But Scott, the ranking member on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said gaining support for the legislation has felt like an uphill battle. The bill currently has no Republican cosponsors and hasn鈥檛 had a hearing. Scott and other lawmakers have introduced a version of the bill four times since 2019.

鈥淚f the locality can鈥檛 afford it and the state鈥檚 not doing it, then it鈥檚 either going to be the federal government or it won鈥檛 get done,鈥� Scott said.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Schoolyards are hot and getting hotter, but only a tiny fraction of California鈥檚 grade school students can play in the shade.

Researchers and advocates are pushing the state to allocate money for , which can include trees, grass or gardens in place of the flat asphalt or rubber play surfaces at most schools. 

With the help of more than $121 million in state grants, 164 schools already are on their way to either designing or building green schoolyards. Many more applied for the school greening grants, with requests totaling more than $350 million for projects they hoped to build.

The high applicant numbers highlight growing demand for greenery at schools as the climate gets hotter. But with California鈥檚 Green Schoolyards program depleted and a state general of $56 billion over the next two fiscal years, where will the money for green school projects come from?

Some environmental groups are pushing for a proposed  that would include $350 million for the green schoolyards program. They also are pushing for a $1 billion carve-out in a proposed $14-$15 billion  that could go before voters this November.

鈥淚t is well known that our K-12 schoolyards, play structures and campuses are among the most dangerous climate liabilities currently facing the state 鈥� principally due to the deadly heat and flood potential our kids are being exposed to now,鈥� environment groups wrote in a letter to authors of two school infrastructure bond proposals, Assemblymember , a Democrat from Torrance, and state Sen. , a Democrat from Orinda.

Muratsuchi told CalMatters he is reluctant to dictate how schools should use bond money.

鈥淚鈥檓 aware of their request, but we have many other requests to consider,鈥� he said, such as funds for heating and air conditioning systems and solar energy on campuses. 鈥淏ut those priorities will be defined by local school districts.鈥�

Students need outdoor shade

On a typical 90-degree day under full sun, grass can reach 95 degrees, while asphalt can hit 150  and rubber surfaced play areas can reach 165 degrees, according to  for Innovation. 

Forget 90 degrees; other research predicts much of the country is on track for more than double the usual number of  by midcentury. Fresno already averages 33 days of 100+ degrees each year, Sacramento has 19 and Riverside has 14, federal . 

Unrelenting sun and high heat are bad for kids, the Luskin Center says: 鈥淧laying outside in the heat can lead to dehydration, headaches, heat stroke and other health impacts.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Shade from trees is one of the best ways to cool things down, the researchers said, because it can reduce heat exposure to children by as much as . 

But most of California鈥檚 schools lack tree canopy, and the trees that do exist on campuses are often around the perimeter, where students can鈥檛 access their shade during recess.

Green Schoolyards America, a nonprofit dedicated to building more green space on campuses, recently conducted a  shading the state鈥檚 more than 10,000 public schools. 

It found that an average of 6.4% of the school areas students access are covered by tree shade. More than 2.5 million students attend schools with less than 5% tree canopy in student areas.

That鈥檚 a far cry from what urban forestry and  They say there needs to be enough trees to cover . Driven by that goal, Green Schoolyards America is pushing for ways to plant trees to cover at least 30% of each school area used by children during the day. 

So far only 29,452 California students have that level of tree canopy, out of nearly 6 million students.

鈥淭his is a long-term infrastructure problem,鈥� said Sharon Gamson Danks, chief executive of Green Schoolyards America. 

 鈥淚t鈥檚 not building a little garden in the corner. It鈥檚 actual infrastructure, on par with highway building. It鈥檚 an investment, and we want children to not be overlooked in preparing for climate and protecting their health.鈥�

Most greening projects on school campuses include more trees, but they can also include mulch, grassy fields to replace asphalt, and wooden play and learning structures, said 艩谩rka Volejn铆kov谩, the  program director for Bay Area parks.

The difference green space makes

At the C茅sar E. Ch谩vez Education Center in Oakland, students 鈥� many from low income families 鈥� used to play on a yard that was 90% asphalt. The school is surrounded by freeways and industrial factories, and students suffer with high asthma rates, said Eleanor Marsh, the school鈥檚 former principal. 

鈥淚n lower income areas the schools have more concrete,鈥� Marsh said. 鈥淭hat is just the reality. And in higher income areas, kids have more natural play structures that have been fundraised for by PTA鈥檚. It becomes an equity issue around mental health and access to core academics.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The school received a $1.2 million grant from the California Natural Resources Agency鈥檚 Urban Greening program and worked with the Trust for Public Land in 2020 to completely renovate the schoolyard, adding more greenery, trees and play structures that would be cooler and more academically enriching. 

Students were part of the process, taking the temperature of the asphalt and rubber playground and recommending alternatives.

Now students take outdoor gardening classes and play and run through their new 鈥渞iver鈥� made with bricks, which doubles as a stormwater runoff system on rainy days. 

There鈥檚 no lack of enthusiasm for greening projects among educators, said Marsh, now principal at San Pedro Elementary School in San Rafael. 

鈥淓very public school in California is up against huge  cuts,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here is no money at the school site level to improve the physical space for students. So we are really relying on support from the state.鈥�

Where the money could come from 

The time to dedicate more funding to green schoolyards is now, said Manny Gonez, director of policy initiatives for the Beverly Hills environmental group 

The latest proposals for a climate bond, which would be paid off over many years, includes an ask for $150 million for an urban greening grant, which doesn鈥檛 exclusively fund school greening programs but has in the past. TreePeople also supports the request for $1 billion in the proposed school infrastructure bond.

Traditionally school bonds are for new school construction or renovation. School districts can apply for the state bond funds for projects and must provide local matching funds. There is money set aside for financially strapped districts that can鈥檛 provide as much of a local match. 

鈥淭his is a small down payment to really scale up the work that the state has been doing with these 164 schools,鈥� Gonez said, referring to schools that already have green schoolyard grants.

The Trust for Public Land wants money set aside for green schoolyard projects and for the most needy schools to get priority, said Juan Altamirano, the group鈥檚 director of government affairs.

Earmarking the funds in the proposed school bond would boost support for the measure overall, Altamirano said. California voters 鈥� even those without children 鈥� support more green schoolyards, an April survey of 800 voters by the Trust for Public Land showed.  

Some legislators were noncommittal when discussing the request. 

Muratsuchi said he has been an environmental champion in the Legislature and understands the need for more green school funding. But in this case, it鈥檚 not up to him to define that as a priority in the school infrastructure bond. 

鈥淯ltimately the priorities for school facilities funding should be driven by educators and not by the environmental lobby,鈥� he said.

Glazer denied Calmatters鈥� request for an interview, saying he is not directly involved in the decision making of this issue. 

California already has committed to increasing the tree canopy on schoolyards on paper, but how that will happen is unclear.

In the state鈥檚  published in April, officials said the state would prioritize greening schoolyards through its , 鈥渆nsuring greening schoolyards is not just a consideration but an integral expectation when local educational agencies undertake new school construction projects and modernization projects.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 office did not answer questions about plans to fund greening school projects. Alex Stack, a Newsom spokesperson, said 鈥淣o other governor has done as much as Gov. Newsom to .鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Stacks said the green schoolyard grants already allocated are part of Newsom鈥檚 2022 , funded by $52.3 billion in the California Climate Commitment budget. 

Newsom , and other parts of the budget, by more than 7% in his May revised proposal.

This story was originally published at .

A long-standing effort to provide low-income schools with federal grants to improve building infrastructure and internet connectivity has been reintroduced in Congress by Democratic U.S. lawmakers with support from Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D), and others.

According to a Monday press release, the “Rebuild America鈥檚 Schools Act” would establish a $100 billion federal grant program and a $30 billion tax credit bond program for high-poverty schools to fund physical and digital infrastructure improvements.

Van Hollen has been a supporter and cosponsor of the initiative when the bill was first introduced in 2019, and then again in 2021. But neither of those previous efforts were successful.

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 社区黑料 Newsletter

鈥淲e must ensure that our students and educators have modern school buildings and facilities that support their success rather than rundown infrastructure that hinders progress,鈥� Van Hollen said in a written statement.

鈥淭his legislation will help bring our schools and classrooms into the 21st century, ensuring that they don鈥檛 stand in the way of our children鈥檚 opportunity to receive a quality education,鈥� he added.

This year, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) are again leading the legislative effort, and Van Hollen joins more than a dozen other co-sponsors for a third try to get the bill over the finish line.

According to a , the average age of a school in the state is 31 years, with Baltimore City Public Schools having the highest number of aging school buildings.

The effects of aging facilities can impact a student’s ability to learn, according to the press release, as students can miss hours of instruction time due to power outages or bad pipes.

According to the press release, the federal grants would not only go to schools in greatest need for infrastructure repairs, but would also encourage green construction practices and improve access to high-speed broadband internet connection.

The Rebuild America鈥檚 Schools Act would also encourage projects to use American-made iron, steel and other manufactured products.

鈥淐hronic neglect of America鈥檚 public schools has forced students and teachers across the country to learn and work in outdated and hazardous school buildings. Moreover, dilapidated and poorly ventilated school facilities that make it harder for teachers to teach and students to learn,鈥� Scott, the House bill sponsor, said in a written statement.

The story was originally published at .

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 社区黑料 Newsletter

For many schools with high lead levels, finding the money to fix the problem will be a challenge. The options aren鈥檛 great. They can compete for a dwindling pool of state money, seek federal aid passed last year, or add the repairs to their long lists of capital improvement projects and pay for the work themselves.

鈥淲e prioritized emergency needs and then will follow up with the next-most-serious thing,鈥� said Brian Patrick, Great Falls Public Schools鈥� director of business services and operations. 鈥淥bviously, this is something we want to get addressed right away. We want safe water for our kids.鈥�

Lead, a toxic metal long known to cause lasting organ and nervous system damage, can make its way into drinking water through pipes and fixtures. to lead poisoning, which can slow development and cause learning, speech, and behavioral problems. Although federal rules require that community water sources be tested for lead, from that oversight and can decline to be tested.

The , created by the state Department of Public Health and Human Services in 2020, requires schools to check at least every three years for lead in the water of any sink or fountain used for drinking or food prep. Schools鈥� initial deadline to get that done was Dec. 31, 2021. According to the rule, any faucet whose water has a lead concentration of 5 parts per billion or higher must be fixed or routinely flushed. Fixtures that test higher than 15 ppb must immediately be shut off.

鈥淭here is no safe level of lead,鈥� said health department spokesperson Jon Ebelt. 鈥淎nd that is why schools, DPHHS, and (the Department of Environmental Quality) are taking actions to remove sources of lead in children鈥檚 environment.鈥�

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that school water fountains not have water lead concentrations higher than 1 ppb, .

State officials have said 589 school buildings need to meet Montana鈥檚 new rule. Of the 222 schools that had turned in samples by Feb. 18, 110 had at least one water fixture with lead levels higher than 15 ppb, according to a KHN analysis of state data. Almost a third of all fixtures tested so far across the state had dangerous levels of lead in their water, according to .

The highest test result so far came from Skyview High School in Billings, where a sink in a theater control room tested at 7,800 ppb 鈥� federal environmental regulators classify lead concentrations . That sink and any other that had levels higher than 15 ppb were blocked off from use, said Scott Reiter, director of facilities at Billings Public Schools.

Montana鈥檚 rule mandates that schools鈥� results be but doesn鈥檛 require schools to tell parents when students have been exposed. For many Montana schools, this is the first time they鈥檝e tested for lead.

In some cases, schools with a long list of high lead numbers must wait for solutions, with some sinks and fountains blocked from use. At Billings West High School, more than 40 fixtures tested in the red 鈥� higher than 15 ppb 鈥� out of 139 samples taken. As of mid-February, repair work hadn鈥檛 begun at Billings West as district officials prioritized projects that keep access to drinking water for students and employees in other schools, whether that鈥檚 applying filters or replacing fixtures.

鈥淲e鈥檙e just taking it one school at a time,鈥� said Billings Public Schools Superintendent Greg Upham. 鈥淚n some cases, it will fall to our general funding facilities budget, which is unfortunate, but, you know, on the safety side of it, that鈥檚 what we need to do.鈥�

Greg Montgomery, who manages DEQ鈥檚 new monitoring program, said he鈥檚 still reaching out to schools that haven鈥檛 finished sending in water samples.

鈥淭his rule rolled out right as COVID hit,鈥� Montgomery said. 鈥淎nd schools have also had a lot of turnover. I鈥檒l get calls from new facility people saying they just heard about the program and how do they get started.鈥�

Although DEQ helps oversee the program, the rule鈥檚 enforcement falls to DPHHS. Ebelt said the deadline was set before the pandemic and COVID slowed that work for many schools.

He said a total of 308 schools had submitted an inventory of their buildings鈥� plumbing fixtures and more samples had been coming in. As of Feb. 28, 293 schools had provided samples. Not all results have been posted.

鈥淲e plan to be flexible with the deadline and will continue to work with schools,鈥� Ebelt said.

Classroom and bathroom sinks were more likely than any other type of fixture to have high levels of lead. Of all the drinking fountains tested, 20% tested high enough to need flushing or get turned off, according to state environmental officials. Schools don鈥檛 have a deadline to make repairs, though some have taken anything whose water tested over 5 ppb out of service.

Nationwide, has tracked how many lead pipes deliver water to homes, schools, and businesses, let alone tested every faucet for traces of the neurotoxin. At least seven states 鈥� California, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Virginia 鈥� require school districts to test for lead and report elevated levels to parents, .

Last year, that schools test drinking water for lead if the buildings went up or pipes went in before 2016. And in 2020, school boards to submit plans to test for lead and to make fixes if needed.

Patrick, with Great Falls Public Schools, said that in some cases, the district brought in water bottle fill stations with filters to replace old hallway drinking fountains. The district already had plans to use part of the proceeds from a bond issuance to replace the internal piping at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, where 23 fixtures had lead levels of 5 ppb or higher.

He said that the district had considered testing in the past but that the estimated cost was too high. With the new rule, the state covers the cost of lab tests and supplies for taking samples.

However, if repairs are needed, many schools may be left to foot the bill themselves. The state set aside $40,000 to help schools fix problems, but that money is first come, first served. As of Feb. 18, about $15,000 remained.

Patrick said that as schools calculate total repair costs, they鈥檙e submitting that information to state officials. He hopes that more than $40,000 will be set aside for repair projects the next time schools submit samples. For now, the gap in funding may mean delaying other projects.

鈥淚t just means a project that we鈥檙e going to do, like re-asphalting part of a playground or something like that, gets postponed for another year,鈥� he said.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill that Congress passed late last year included to expand access to clean drinking water. But the money hasn鈥檛 been disbursed to states yet, it鈥檚 not limited to school repairs, and how much of that funding will land in Montana isn鈥檛 clear yet.

Montgomery, of DEQ, said that if schools don鈥檛 have the money to make fixes, some may qualify for rural development grants or low-interest loans.

In Troy, 27 of the 58 water fixtures tested at the elementary school came back above the state鈥檚 allowed limit of less than 5 ppb, with five in the red. The rural school district now faces the cost of repairing those water sources after incurring the hidden cost of the staff time it takes to inventory and sample every water source 鈥� no small expense for a small district with limited cash and workers.

鈥淲e鈥檙e just going to chip away at it with the general funds that we do have, and there may be some areas that we just shut down different water sources too,鈥� said Jacob Francom, superintendent of Troy Public Schools. 鈥淔ixtures are very expensive 鈥� and testing regularly, I mean, it starts to add up.鈥�

KHN data editor Holly Hacker contributed to this article.

(Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

Others used emergency relief money to retrofit buildings with ventilation systems, add laptop computers for students and pay for online teaching.

But the state still holds more than $1 billion meant to help school districts address pandemic-related issues.聽

Since March 2020, Oregon has been allocated $1.7 billion in emergency relief funding from the federal government to get students back in classrooms, and to get them caught up on their education after school closures.聽

Now, more than a year later, most of that money remains unspent.

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 社区黑料 Newsletter

School districts so far have been reimbursed for about $222 million in emergency relief projects, according to the Oregon Education Department. That means just under 8% of all dollars have made it back to districts.

The bulk of that money has gone to staff, technology and capital projects 鈥� getting kids laptops and wifi, upgrading ventilation systems and adding more classrooms to encourage social distancing.聽

But emergency purchases also included weight room equipment, bleachers and playgrounds.聽

Districts must spend at least $201 million of Oregon鈥檚 latest relief money to combat learning loss over the next three years, but data from the Education Department show that less than 1% has been distributed so far for that purpose.

The reasons behind what districts are buying, and when, are complex, but they have broad latitude in using the extra money.

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund was signed into federal law in 鈥嬧�婱arch 2020 as school buildings in many states were closing and classes shifted online.聽

The first round of money was ready to go out to states immediately for buying personal protective equipment for staff and students who had to remain in school buildings, and to help schools pay for the transition to online learning. That included laptops for students, new online teaching software, network security upgrades and internet hotspots for families that otherwise had no internet access.

It also paid for more teachers, substitute teachers, counselors and support staff.聽

The money was awarded from the federal government to the state Education Department, which reimburses districts for their purchases. Purchases over $5,000 must have prior approval from the department.

Oregon鈥檚 share of funds in that first round was $121 million.聽

Most of the state鈥檚 216 school and education service districts have claimed some portion of the funds and to date, more than $100 million of that first round funding has been spent.聽

The second and third rounds of funding came in December 2020 and March 2021. Oregon was allocated $499 million in the second round to spend on getting schools ready to reopen.聽

In the third round, the state was allocated $1.1 billion.聽

It was additional money for school reopening that came with a new federal mandate 鈥� school districts had to spend at least 20% on combating learning losses. Schools have until 2024 to spend the latest round of money.

Little to learning loss so far

Of the $1.1 billion available to Oregon districts in the third round, about $18 million has been distributed so far, according to the state Education Department. That has gone to paying for summer school programs, salaries, payroll costs, retirement costs and technology and supplies.聽

Districts are allowed to use the relief funds to pay for new teachers, and boost pay for current employees for taking on additional work during the pandemic and to retain them.

Of the $202 million set aside to help students catch up on their education, about $1.4 million 鈥� less than .05% 鈥� has been distributed so far, according to the Education Department.聽

Cynthia Stinson is senior manager of federal investments and pandemic renewal at the state Education Department. She said timing is the issue with the relatively slow payout for extra learning programs.

She said most schools haven鈥檛 had to draw on the emergency funds yet to pay for tutoring, counseling, afterschool and remediation programs. Many only just recently submitted budgets to meet an October deadline set by the federal government, and some are taking a long-range approach with the money, having been given three years to spend it.聽

In an email, Marc Siegel, communications director at the Education Department wrote, 鈥淚t is important to note that the three relief acts came in very short succession.鈥澛�

Siegel said many districts are still spending previous rounds of money and added, 鈥淲e are only a little over three months into the school year.鈥澛�

But Oregon schools have not wasted much time getting capital projects funded, some of which include renovating running tracks, getting weight training equipment and upgrading playgrounds.

Stinson said districts have been given flexibility on what they can buy.聽

The Education Department doesn鈥檛 track every rejection of a district鈥檚 , but said it turned down requests for baseball and football scoreboards, some requests for bleachers, the request for a vehicle to use for student outreach and one request for a roof replacement.

鈥淥ne of the goals is also to emerge stronger post pandemic,鈥� Stinson said of the emergency funds. 鈥淎s we talk with districts, and understand what it might really mean for a rural or frontier district in Oregon to redo a playground, it’s not only for all of the kids in school, but it’s the only playground in the community, right?鈥�

The Capital Chronicle emailed 150 Oregon school district superintendents seeking information about how they used their latest round of relief dollars. Of those, 30 superintendents or district representatives responded.聽

Three wrote that they had been posting reports on their district websites about where their relief dollars were going, six sent spreadsheets detailing projects and a few said they hadn鈥檛 claimed any of the latest funding but planned to.

Jeff Clark, Amity School District superintendent, said so far most of his district鈥檚 relief dollars have gone to improving learning conditions.

鈥淲e have some older buildings with poor ventilation. Supplies, materials and equipment would be next on the list,鈥� he wrote via email.聽

Clark said the district is using dollars from the state鈥檚 Student Investment Account to help recover lost learning. That鈥檚 part of the $1 billion a year Oregon schools get under the Student Success Act that was signed into law in 2019. Several district superintendents said they preferred using that more stable funding instead of short-term federal help to pay for more staff and for programming to combat learning loss.

In the Forest Grove School District, emergency relief dollars are being used for reading and math interventions and tutoring middle schoolers, summer school activities and social and emotional support staff, according to David Warner, district communications director.聽

In Hermiston, Superintendent Tricia Mooney said the district wants to use the latest round of relief money to support summer school programs to help get students caught up.聽

In North Bend, school officials plan to ask for $3 million to help combat learning loss. In the Siuslaw School District, they are planning to ask for about $691,000 to combat learning loss over the current school year, according to Superintendent Andrew Grzeskowiak.聽

Among most of the district leaders who responded, transitions to online learning, staff, payroll and retirement, along with capital expenses and supplies were among the biggest expenses incurred so far.

HVAC and parking lots

In an effort to get schools fully reopened in the fall, the Klamath County School District initiated construction projects with the emergency funds.

The district updated HVAC systems in an elementary school and high school, and added extra classrooms to buildings so there鈥檇 be fewer kids in each room. They also added new turf fields to several schools and resurfaced a parking lot.聽

Despite being short staffed, like most districts in the state, Superintendent Glen Szymoniak said the short window to use federal relief aid meant he wasn鈥檛 going to use it to do temporary hires of teachers and counselors and programs that couldn鈥檛 be sustained.

鈥淲ith money that only lasts a couple years, you do projects. That鈥檚 the golden rule right there. You don鈥檛 use it to hire people and cut them loose in a few years. It gives you a bad reputation and it鈥檚 just a terrible way to treat people,鈥� he said.聽

Rather than hiring new people, he used some of the relief money to pay employees to surrender vacation time.

鈥淲e鈥檙e buying that off at a bit of a higher rate,鈥� he said, 鈥渟o that we can have them stay in the classroom.鈥�

He also bought lawn mowers and floor cleaners that were faster and more efficient than what he had, allowing grounds staff and janitors more time to complete other sanitation and maintenance work and negating the need to do more hiring.聽

鈥淐ustodians have floor scrubbers, now there鈥檚 time to sanitize. They weren鈥檛 sanitizing like this before,鈥� he said. 鈥淧rincipals with tight budgets would buy cheap mowers. Well then, none of the other work gets done. With a high capacity mower [custodians] have more time to do other stuff.鈥�

He said investments like the turf fields and running tracks were important for sustaining school programs that students needed during the pandemic.

鈥淭he first turf I applied for was for Chiloquin,鈥� Szymoniak said of the elementary school in his district. Because of drought and the resulting water restrictions, 鈥淚f there鈥檚 not enough runoff and the lake level is a certain height they shut off the irrigation for farmers, ranchers and for us. In Chiloquin, our playgrounds turn to dust,鈥� he said.聽

The turf became an essential place for students to play, have for recess and for extracurricular activities.聽

Szymoniak said he鈥檚 committed to investing more than required into activities that combat learning loss. He said his district is already spending and will continue to spend upwards of 38% of the district鈥檚 relief dollars on learning loss. So far, the district has set up after-school tutoring and drama programs, paid for buses to get kids to and from after-school programs and provided teacher training for paraprofessionals who might consider becoming teachers in the district.

For long-term expenses, including staffing and offering more social and emotional support programs, he is using the state-funded Student Investment Account.

鈥淪chools are institutions just like a university. You can鈥檛 run a university with a whole lot one year and barely enough the other. They run best when there is stable, consistent funding,鈥� he said.

Accountability for the millions

Jennifer Patterson, an assistant superintendent at the Education Department, said agency officials will continue to talk with school district superintendents about how to make the most of the money.

鈥淲e would want to be in conversation with districts to say, what are you noticing about this investment? Is it yielding outcomes that you can see? And to help people do what educators do best, which is to notice a need and be responsive to shifting their investment and strategy if they’re not seeing the kinds of outcomes that they predicted.鈥�

The department itself gets to set aside 10% of all the relief dollars, or roughly $165 million, for emergencies, combating learning losses, helping charter schools, the Oregon School for the Deaf and juvenile corrections programs.聽

So far the department $56 million to combat learning losses.

鈥淭he arc of the money is long and we’ve talked about going slow to go fast,鈥� Patterson said. 鈥淚n the sense of, you know, this money doesn’t have to be spent until September 30, 2024. So, really taking a longer view of the investment over time, that will maximize meeting the strengths and needs of local communities and students.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Les Zaitz for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on and .

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.

鈥淯ltimately, 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,鈥� said Laura Schifter, senior fellow with the Aspen Institute and founder of the new initiative, .

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 社区黑料 Newsletter

Synthesizing a year of listening tours and research, the connects one of the country鈥檚 most sizable public sectors to actionable climate solutions 鈥� like warming effects by replacing the nation鈥檚 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, , according to the New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit that tracks and helps to redesign commercial spaces鈥� energy performance. Annually, K-12 schools in the U.S. produce emissions equivalent to or roughly 15 million cars. Energy is the second most costly expense for school districts on average.

The K12 Climate Action of students, teachers, education administrators and environmental leaders includes incoming Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, researcher and president of the Learning Policy Institute and the presidents of the country鈥檚 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鈥檙e able to follow through on recommendations.

鈥淎ll the things that we’re calling for are achievable. There’s someplace somewhere that is doing each of the things we recommend,鈥� King told 社区黑料.

Some suggested changes, like improving air quality for students, are highly anticipated by parents and already underway in efforts to ameliorate pandemic health concerns. Beginning next year, more than 500 schools across New York state will further improve air quality, reduce emissions and add energy career and tech opportunities under Gov. Kathy Hochul鈥檚 just-announced $59 million . New York officials are partnering with the New Buildings Institute on the effort.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers who sometimes clashed with King in her role as a labor leader, told 社区黑料 that the union 鈥渓eaped鈥� at the opportunity to be involved in K12 Climate Action, seeing it as part of the AFT鈥檚 broader goal to make schools safe and healthy spaces for learning.

鈥淭he way you teach people is by not telling them, but having them see, feel, touch, use whatever senses they have to really envision a future,鈥� she said.

Weingarten and other commission leaders toured Alice West Fleet Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia Sept. 21 to learn how a small school has become a model of sustainability for the affluent, D.C. area county. The school鈥檚 geothermal heating system and solar panels save roughly $100,000 in energy costs each year, enough to fund two teachers鈥� starting salaries, according to the Aspen Institute鈥檚 Laura Schifter.

In the center of Alice West Fleet, the red and blue lights of a 鈥渟olar pole鈥� show students how much energy is being produced and used at any given moment. Any surplus goes to greater Arlington County, and upper grade students use data collected to make comparisons and predictions about how much energy will be produced at different points in the year.

On the first floor is the yet-to-be-named 鈥淧ower Pole,鈥� showing students the amount of power the school has generated. The blue is from the solar panels, the red is the power being used. Extra power goes back to the county.

鈥� AFT (@AFTunion)

Weingarten, whose enthusiasm was evident during the tour when she slid down a slide that connects Fleet鈥檚 third and second floors, added that the AFT recently established a climate task force, including members from states heavily dependent on the fossil fuel industry, like Texas, West Virginia and Alaska. The growing urgency to address climate needs across political parties and geography gives her hope that what unites us is greater than what divides us.

鈥淛ust like our responsibility to educate kids, there’s a responsibility to keep a climate that’s going to be there,鈥� Weingarten said.

Commission member Nikki Pitre, executive director for the told 社区黑料 that there鈥檚 also a responsibility to keep Indigenous people and values at the forefront of climate solutions, given that Native peoples have always stewarded the land and acted as environmentalists.

The action plan emphasizes that Indigenous communities鈥� knowledge systems 鈥� their local culture and ecological practices 鈥� must be included in climate solutions.

Pitre said she walked away from the tour of Alice Fleet questioning, 鈥淲hat do we need to advocate for in our policies to ensure that these schools are not the exception? That we鈥檙e providing equal access across the country 鈥� including tribal reservations, including urban spaces?鈥�

School leaders on the commission say that equity considerations play a key part in deciding which sustainable infrastructure improvements are prioritized because solutions cannot be one-size-fit-all. For some districts, climate issues are just as urgent as addressing unfinished learning and mental health concerns related to the pandemic as families face unprecedented flooding in the South and upper Atlantic.

As Los Angeles County鈥檚 superintendent of schools, Debra Duardo leads the that constitute the nation鈥檚 largest K-12 consolidated school system. She told 社区黑料 she hesitated when first approached by the commission, given all the urgent challenges facing students during the pandemic.

鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 really placed as much of an emphasis on my own time and knowledge on understanding the impact that the education sector has on the environment. For me it was like, we鈥檙e super busy right now, but one thing this pandemic has taught us is that schools have to be ready to step up 鈥� that people look to schools as the hub of support and resources and communities,鈥� Duardo said.

In Los Angeles, where families increasingly face poor air quality from smog and fire smoke, she said, it鈥檚 historically been student and environmental activists leading the charge for climate solutions. However busy leaders might be, she said, they cannot ignore the dread young people feel when confronting climate change and the strains it may place on their learning.

鈥淭here’s so much evidence and research that tells us that children thrive when they’re in an environment where it’s safe, beautiful and accommodating to meet their needs …Children aren’t going to learn and thrive in an environment if they don’t feel like anybody is listening, or they鈥檙e concerned that their futures, their safety are in danger.鈥�

Advocates and teachers say presents a way to confront some eco-anxiety with positive actions and possibilities for future careers in engineering, green infrastructure and clean energy. K12 Climate Action commissioners contend that infrastructure changes are reducing emissions while preparing the next generation of stewards.

Sustainable changes also open the door for deeper civic and family engagement at a time when the pandemic has strained relationships to schools. As a part of a larger research assignment on the Chesapeake Bay, Ashley Snyder鈥檚 fourth-grade students at Alice West Fleet started brainstorming ways to share with the community how best to enhance rain gardens and filtration systems to protect the watershed area.

鈥淚 definitely see the students bringing home a lot more of what they’re learning to their families,鈥� she said.