Some School Districts Face Unseen Hurdles in Bid to Build Green
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 07. 2.07
Ever wondered how challenging the world of operating a school district can legally get? Well I’m pretty sure it can be tough to do, but this certainly looks like a positive development to me… Led by Representative Leach, the Pennsylvania House of Reps. recently passed legislation that would give school incentives that can help them construct cleaner and more efficient LEED buildings by forgoing some state-imposed cost restrictions when building environmentally friendly school buildings.
What’s the issue? Well, consider the case of a school board in that state who wants to build to LEED standards but currently runs up against a Pennsylvania law, Act 34, which is commonly referred to as the “Taj Mahal Act”. Intended to stop outlandish building projects, it requires local school boards to receive voter approval before building excessively expensive schools. It only applies when a school district attempts to receive partial reimbursement from the state for construction costs, but a referendum is triggered if they’re spending more than allowed under a state formula, which takes into consideration the number of students and the proposed size of the school. It sounds logical, but the real-world implication for school districts, however, is that referendums cost a ton of cash to hold, so in practice they never actually hold one, and just choose to build smaller buildings instead. And that effectively caps school spending on building projects in the process.
The problem is that while the law was intended to keep school districts from building these excessively large structures, it has come to mean that LEED buildings are usually off the table before they even get a chance to be considered regardless of how badly the school board wants to build them. And that’s because the up-front costs of building LEED buildings is higher than standard building codes, pushing them over the cap under the formula. Of course, the formula doesn’t take into account the fact that schools built according to LEED standards are much more energy-efficient, reduce pollution and are significantly cheaper to operate in the long run. All of which gives, I think, a great piece of insight into the difficulties that I’m willing to bet schools in more than a few states are facing as they look to build greener structures. As Rep. Leach points out “The up-front cost of LEED construction has been deterring school districts from implementing the standards -- even though the savings realized over the 30-40 year lifespan of a school are many times the initial additional cost”. Hopefully the Pennsylvania Senate will see the light and pass this thing too... And who knows, maybe there are members of the legislature in other states who’ve come to realize this same thing is happening to their schools as well, and are willing to step up to the plate and help change those laws as well.
via: Press Release
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“The up-front cost of LEED construction has been deterring school districts from implementing the standards -- even though the savings realized over the 30-40 year lifespan of a school are many times the initial additional cost”.
I have to say that as a taxpayer (oh man I feel old now, the first time I've used the term) I would want the total "cradle to grave" cost of operating a school or any public building in my district to be the considering factor. Any other way is short sighted and costs the public much more in the long run.
Is there an existing group to inform the public and our public servants on why to choose the LEED building?
Not that I'm aware of, but maybe one of our readers is?
It is amazing to read a green website buying the premise that green buildings cost more (some astroturf group is smiling out there).
Stop saying that.
There is NO corelation between cost and greenness of a building.
Watch the bldgs lecture.
http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid231.php
There is a corelation between designer skill and the cost of a green building.
McDonough's work for Gap and Herman Miller are another example.
Less skilled designers & engineers build bad buildings, whether or not green is a criteria for quality.
I wish I could claim to be an expert, but I'm not. Our firm has run into this very problem. Very supportive school superintendent. Very supportive school board. Very supportive public - except those who are upset that their taxes are going to go up, no matter what the type of building.
PA DEP has a number of grants available for high performance buildings - and have funded portions of several very good examples. The PA Dept of Education offers a greater reimbursement for public school construction projects that achieve a LEED Silver level certification than for those of conventional construction. Both departments have assembled and continue to distribute valuable information for building project teams. Education locally will have to come from committed design professionals. Sadly, designers are very competitive, and it's difficult for any school board to truly compare one firm to another based on anything other than recent construction/first-costs.
However, the greatest obstacle might be contractors who see LEED requirements as something foreign, and falsely inflate their estimates and bids for work. That triggers some panic, and the whole thing unfolds as described in the TH article. PA is a big state, with big cities. But if you're outside of the cities, everything seems to lag behind, in some areas by 5 years or more - including construction methods. So, relatively small rural school districts might get sucked into 'value engineering' they don't need -- that gives them an inferior building with greater operating costs.
As energy de-regulation is just around the corner in PA, too, energy consumption is bound to jump to the forefront of many building owners. By then, projects recently approved or now underway without sustainability in mind will have little recourse but to suck up the costs. I wish the news were better.
I currently teach at a Whitmore Lake High School in Michigan, which just opened the fall of 2006 with LEED certification (I don't recall which level). In my opinion, it seems that at least new construction projects should all be LEED, since the energy savings in the long-run offsets the additional costs. I believe the new WLHS building saves 30-40% in energy costs from the old school, which was a smaller building. Especially considering the current budget issues in Michigan, the new efficient building helps the district divert some money away from infrastructure and into instruction.
In addition to the financial benefits, the new schools also serve an educational benefit to the student population. As part of a curriculum on sustainable development, the eco-friendly aspects of the new building gave the students an excellent visual of what eco-friendly design & construction can look like.
An article from CAM Magazine highlighting the eco-friendly aspects of the building and the perspectives of the superintendant and president of the school board can be found here: Little Green Schoolhouse