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

  • Designing School Spaces for A++ Performance

    In recent years, the educational world has gained greater appreciation for the ways a space’s aesthetics, just like its acoustics, can positively impact educational outcomes. Consequently, engineering, designing, and constructing a school environment demands acoustics to be equally an art and a science, requiring architects and designers to see with their ears, while acousticians must hear with their eyes.

  • S4L Launches 2025 Facilities and Construction Brief Survey

    Spaces4Learning recently launched its 2025 Facilities and Construction Brief Survey, which gathers information on K–12 and higher education construction projects nationwide from the previous year. The data we get from you, our readers, forms an industry report offering an overview of current trends in school facilities.

  • Florida Elementary School to Undergo $47M Reconstruction

    The School District of Osceola County in Kissimmee, Fla., recently announced a partnership with construction firm Skanska to reconstruct Reedy Creek Elementary School, according to a news release. The $47-million project will involve the new construction of a 96,000-square-foot academic center, renovating the remaining facilities, a full-site redevelopment, and demolishing portions of the existing school.

  • Texas District Breaks Ground on New Elementary School

    The Splendora Independent School District (SISD) in Splendora, Texas, recently broke ground on a replacement facility for Greenleaf Elementary School, according to a news release. The district partnered with planning, engineering and program management firm Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, Inc. (LAN) for the project.

Digital Edition