School Board Member Climate Action Toolkit
It’s warming. It’s us. It’s happening now.
But we can take action.
And School Board Members Can Help Advance Solutions!
We're thrilled to introduce a new toolkit to support school board members to lead climate action, developed in partnership with This is Planet Ed and School Board Partners.
The toolkit supports school board members to understand their role in driving meaningful climate solutions. School board members can collaborate with district, youth, and community leaders to pass resolutions and develop climate action plans for their districts.
Mitigate. Adapt. Educate. Advance Equity.
Local district K-12 climate action plans, similar to those embraced by city governments, utilize community needs and strengths as guiding principles for schools. These plans enable educational institutions to:
Reduce Emissions: Implement strategies to decrease the pollution harming our health and driving climate change.
Prepare for Climate Impacts: Develop greater resilience against the challenges posed by climate change.
Educate Students: Educate students about climate change, climate solutions and inspire action.
Advance Equity: Prioritize communities that are most impacted by climate change and ensure they are at the center of decisions about schools.
9 School District Commitments
for Climate-Resilience and Sustainability
School board members play a pivotal role in driving climate solutions that empower our youth and communities. The Climate Action Toolkit helps guide school boards to pass resolutions to develop comprehensive climate action plans for their districts that advance 9 School District Comments for Climate Resilience and Sustainability.
Template School Board Climate Action Resolution
This template resolution can be customized for your district and addresses the following areas:
Declarations about why this matters to students - whereas
Commitments by the school district - now therefore, be it resolved
Actions to get started - be it further resolved, pursuant to the foregoing commitments
Click the image to download the PDF or here for a Google document.
Moments for School Board Member Leadership
As a board member (or candidate), moments of opportunity arise nearly every day where climate leadership and collaboration can make a difference. In our current era of extreme weather, school board members have a responsibility to bring a climate lens and questions into the core work of governing the school district — from setting priorities for the budget, to hiring and evaluating superintendents, or updating policies that align the core functions of the district with the needs of students growing up today.
