2024 Budget brief outlining six priorities for the California legislature and Governor
We are excited to release a 2024 budget brief entitled: Modest Investments, Lasting Returns for California Students and Schools: Protecting health and learning in an era of rapidly changing climate. This budget brief provides a roadmap for the legislature and Governor in 2024 to advance climate-resilient schools for every child in California.
Major reports published in 2023 by Stanford/UC Berkeley and UCLA demonstrate the adverse and accelerating impacts of climate-driven hazards on the health and learning of California’s school-age children. California will continue to spend billions of dollars every year on school building infrastructure. In the past 25 years, the State has disbursed $42B through the School Facilities Program to assist LEAs with their capital projects, leveraging $125B in local bond funds raised by California taxpayers for school construction and modernization in their own communities.
The only question is whether or not future investments will advance the State’s climate goals and its commitments to mitigate emissions, protect public health, and ensure equitable access to educational opportunities. If not, California cannot meet its own decarbonization goals, and we will continue to jeopardize the health, safety, and learning of our school children.
The budget brief outlines 6 priorities for the legislature and Governor this year:
#1 Technical Assistance and Management Capacity-Building for COEs and LEAs
$15M for a three-year program to build statewide capacity and provide technical assistance for school districts (LEAs) to make and manage climate-resilience and sustainability plans that include opportunities for student involvement.
#2 Pilot Program for LEAs to Devise Model Electrification & Air Quality Improvement Plans
$10M for a two-year pilot program enabling 30 LEAs to leverage federal funding through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to deploy clean energy technologies in their schools.
#3 Statewide Master Plan for Climate-Resilient California Schools
$10M to staff and support a statewide master planning process (as envisioned by SB 394) establishing goals, guidance, and monitoring for all K-12 public schools to complete an equitable transition to decarbonized and climate-resilient buildings and grounds.
#4 Sustained Investment in and Statutory Updates to the California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing, and Efficiency (CalSHAPE) Program
$100M to convert at least 50 additional high-risk schools to emissions-free electric heat pump-based HVAC systems that safeguard indoor air quality – an extension of the program to align with funding timelines in the federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
#5 Sustained Investment in the CAL FIRE Green Schoolyard Grants Program
$200M to mitigate the impacts of extreme heat where children play and learn by increasing shade, heat-dispersing ground cover, and other protective features on school grounds – an extension of the program to accommodate unmet demand.
#6 Ensure proposed 2024 State Bond Initiatives Prioritize Climate Resilience and Decarbonization in School Buildings and Grounds
No new budget ask; but, urge that proposed school infrastructure bond measures (AB 247 & SB 28) prioritize school decarbonization and climate resilience, and that the proposed climate bond (SB 867) names schools as a priority for extreme heat and wildfire mitigation and resilience.
Read the brief here to learn more about the opportunity and impact of each of these budget proposals.
