Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Climate Resilient Schools Act Moves Forward in California Senate

  • By Matt Jones
  • 08/19/24

California Senate Bill 1182, the Climate Resilient Schools Act, recently passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee and will now face a vote on the Assembly Floor, according to a news release. The bill by Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez will mandate the California Energy Commission to coordinate state agencies to create a comprehensive master plan to balance school facility funding with the state’s decarbonization, heat mitigation, and climate adaption goals.

“Students and their families deserve schools that offer a quality learning environment. With severe weather becoming more frequent in recent years due to climate change that also means updating our school facilities to handle these growing challenges,” said Senator Lena Gonzalez. “I am thankful to the incredible organizations and community leaders who have helped us get this far, and I urge my Assembly colleagues for their support on the Assembly Floor for the Climate Resilient Schools Act so that we can help prepare our schools for the future.”

The bill’s goal is to ensure that schools—and their budgets—are ready to face potential climate-related threats like extreme heat, flooding, wildfire smoke, and more. The news release reports that billions of dollars in federal money from the Infrastructure Investment in Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and a potential School Facilities Bond to be passed in November are currently available.

“We need a plan to ensure our schools are better prepared for smoke days, extreme heat, potential airborne illness, and other environmental challenges we are experiencing. I’m glad to see SB 1182 come off suspense and head to the Assembly Floor,” said Jeff Freitas, President of the California Federation of Teachers union.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Nashville Elementary School Receives LEED Gold Certification

    Goodlettsville Elementary School, part of Metro Nashville Public Schools in Nashville, Tenn., recently achieved LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), according to a news release. The 81,750-square-foot school opened in 2023 and was designed by Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC).

  • Building Beyond Simulation: Creating Immersive Ecosystems for Healthcare Education

    Health sciences education is one of the fastest-growing facility types in colleges and universities. The demand for medical, nursing, and allied health professionals is driving the creation and renovation of medical simulation training facilities that provide students with real-world experience through advanced simulation-based learning.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • University of Pennsylvania Releases Design of Future Physical Sciences Building

    The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in Philadelphia, Penn., recently released renderings of an upcoming 350,000-square-foot Physical Sciences Building, according to news release. The facility was designed by CO Architects and will unite the university’s departments of Physics and Astronomy, Mathematics, and Earth and Environmental Science.