In late August, extreme heat forced schools across Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Riverside counties to send students home early. Over 9,500 students lost 18,000 hours of learning.
At the same time, in final budget negotiations in Sacramento, the state let $194 million meant for school HVAC repairs expire.
That money was the last of the funding in the California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing, and Efficiency (CalSHAPE) program, the state’s only source of 100% grant funding to help public schools repair and replace failing heating, ventilation, and cooling systems. Instead of cooling classrooms, the money will revert to investor-owned utilities posting billion-dollar profits.
For three years, UndauntedK12 has been part of a statewide coalition of school districts and education, environmental, labor, health, and children’s organizations fighting to protect this funding. This spring and summer, we:
Delivered coalition letters and floor alerts to the Governor and legislative leaders urging them to preserve school HVAC funding
Secured a letter from nine Assemblymembers to the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees
Released a new State of School HVAC report and interactive data tool
Generated extensive media coverage, and
Advocated directly in Sacramento.
For months, teachers, students, parents, and the broader coalition made the case for months for cool, healthy classrooms. Unfortunately, the Governor’s Office and the Legislature did not reach an agreement to release the $194 million to schools. The final bill gave school HVAC projects already underway more time to finish, but it let the remaining funding expire.
The need for cool, healthy classrooms isn’t going away – and neither are we. Thousands of schools still need funding, and climate change makes that need more urgent every year.
We remain committed to our vision that every student in California attends a healthy, safe, climate-resilient school. In the coming months, we’ll be meeting with legislators, policymakers, and allies to shape a path forward for 2027.
Your voice can help:
Share your school’s story. Hot classrooms, early dismissals, broken systems: real examples are our strongest tool in these conversations.
Look up your school district in the CalSHAPE School HVAC Explorer and share the findings with your school board or local legislator.
To learn more about the Climate Ready Schools Coalition’s latest work on school HVAC, visit: https://www.climatereadyschoolscoalition.org/.
For resources on creating cool, healthy classrooms, see the Coalition’s Resources page and UndauntedK12’s Solutions Center.
