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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2008
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Contact: Zach Goldberg
202-225-5801 (office) |
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HOLT’S ‘GREEN SCHOOLS’ INITIATIVE INCLUDED IN SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BILL
House Tonight Expected to Pass Initiative To
Provide Schools with Assistance to Become Energy Efficient
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(Washington, D.C.) – The U.S. House of Representatives tonight is expected to pass a school construction bill that includes an initiative by Rep. Rush Holt to provide schools with federal funding to make energy efficient upgrades. The 21st Century High-Performing Public School Facilities Act would authorize $6.4 billion over five years for school construction includes funding to help schools become more energy efficient. Energy bills are the second-highest operating expenditure for schools after personnel costs, with the annual spending by schools on energy at to $8 billion in 2007. The bill would then need approval in the U.S. Senate.
“As our nation’s schools move to modernize and update their facilities, this initiative would help them incorporate environmentally friendly and energy efficient design technologies,” Holt said. “Currently, a fifth or a quarter of the operating expenses for our schools is wasted by inefficiency. This bill would help reduce these operating costs and open up new funds to hire new teachers and buy new textbooks.”
As was written in Holt’s School Building Enhancement Act, the bill would provide for state educational agencies to develop a school energy efficiency quality plan and to provide technical assistance to local education agencies for energy efficient school building design, construction, and renovation.
The 21st Century High-Performing Public School Facilities Act would require that funds be used for projects that meet one of three widely recognized green building standards: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Energy Star, or Collaborative for High Performance Schools. The bill would allow states to use funds to develop a database of public school facilities in the state and their energy use.
At Holt’s request, the bill also would require states to measure and report on the carbon footprint of each school. Schools would be able to set goals for reducing their greenhouse gasses along with their energy use with the eventual goal of becoming carbon neutral. Today, buildings are responsible for over one third of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
Holt also included language in the legislation to ensure that veteran-owned businesses would receive contracting preference for school construction, as is currently the case for small, minority, and women-owned businesses.
“As the war in Iraq continues to swell the veteran population, it is our duty to help to ensure that returning soldiers have jobs to come home to,” Holt said.
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