$194 Million for California School HVAC is at Risk
Upgrading school HVAC systems is one of the most impactful investments we can make to keep students safe and learning in a changing climate. Extreme heat demands cooling. Wildfire smoke demands filtration. And preventing these threats from getting worse means transitioning away from fossil fuels to modern electric equipment powered by clean energy.
So why is $194M – promised to schools for these exact upgrades – frozen and set to be handed to utility companies in December?
A recent article in the Orange County Register highlights the cost of letting these funds expire. In San Bernardino County alone, more than 17,000 students have lost class time this school year due to extreme weather events – closures that could have been prevented with modern HVAC equipment.
Starting in 2021, 4,500 schools across California received grants to assess their HVAC systems through a program called CalSHAPE – but only 172 schools received follow-on grants to actually upgrade or repair their equipment before the remaining program funds were abruptly frozen in 2024.
Visit the Climate Ready Schools Coalition website to learn more about the fight to restore CalSHAPE funding.
Add your voice to the campaign by urging your representatives and legislative leadership to unfreeze CalSHAPE funds and direct the remaining $194M to schools.
