Cool and healthy schools

In honor of National Healthy Schools Day, we’re proud to promote Oregon’s healthy kids bill, jobs bill and energy-savings bill all in one: The Cool Schools Bill (HB 2960).

Reading, writing and arithmetic are easier when you have comfortable classrooms, clean air, and a clear head and a healthy body. It seems obvious, but if there’s any doubt, look at the numbers:

• Students at schools in poor condition score 11% lower on standardized tests.
• A North Carolina elementary school increased the number of students performing at grade level from 64% to 81% after moving to a high-performance building.
• In Oregon, absenteeism was reduced by 15% after students moved into the energy-efficient Ash Creek Intermediate School in Monmouth.

That’s why OEC is working hard to support the Cool Schools legislation in 2011. Sustainable design and healthy operation of schools are a sure-fire way to help Oregon’s young citizens reach their full potential while cutting pollution to boot.

Schools want to be green. No teacher, student or administrator wants to spend their days with inadequate lighting in stuffy or drafty rooms, breathing in mold or toxic building materials. And schools can’t afford to keep paying higher than necessary utility bills. But with budgets slashed to the bone, many schools don’t have the resources to do construction of any kind—even though hundreds of Oregon schools are desperately in need of repair.

The Cool Schools bill pools money for smart and healthy school construction. The bill will organize federal, private and state funds into a low-interest loan program. Schools that use the program will be tracked so that we’ll know how much they’re saving on utility bills.

But why invest in buildings today, when Oregon’s budget is stretched so thin? Because it’s cheaper to invest today than to wait for tomorrow. We could keep throwing energy dollars out of drafty school windows—or we could repair schools with smart design that costs pennies on the dollar more than conventional construction, pays for itself in utility bill savings over five years, and stands to save tens of thousands over the next 20 years.

Schools need green construction today—and so do working Oregonians. Imagine fathers and mothers back on the job in the state’s most economically challenged regions, building more efficient schools. Since there are schools in every community, this bill creates an opportunity to put people back to work all over Oregon.

Jobs today, savings tomorrow, and healthy kids growing to reach their full potential for Oregon’s future. That’s just the kind of smart, practical solution that Oregon Environmental Council was created to support. We’re in Salem educating lawmakers on the benefits of this bill; and when the time comes, we’ll ask Oregonians to speak up in favor.