Legislature Takes Up Master Plan Bill for Climate-Ready Schools

Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) authored breakthrough legislation that requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to work with other State agencies, education system leaders, and stakeholder groups to align State policies and investments in K-12 school facilities under a Master Plan for Healthy, Sustainable, and Climate-Resilient Schools. SB 394 passed out of Senate committees on Energy, Education, and Appropriations, and on May 22 the full Senate approved the Bill on a unanimous, bipartisan vote. The Bill now is under consideration in the Assembly.

Coalition partners California Federation of Teachers, Generation Up, and UndauntedK12 are co-sponsors of the Bill, together with the California Labor for Climate Jobs. More than 20 statewide organizations - representing parents, students, teachers and community-based educators, experts and advocates for children’s health, social justice and civil rights, environmental stewardship, renewable energy, and sustainable economic development - have joined the Coalition’s Letter of Support for the Bill. 

If the Legislature approves the Bill and the accompanying $10M budget request, then stakeholder engagement and interagency dialogue will begin during the 2023-24 school year, and the CEC will have until March 2025 to deliver the Master Plan to Governor Newsom. The completed Master Plan will then guide State policy and investments in climate-ready school facilities as California drives toward its goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.

In a virtual Policy Forum on April 21, Sen. Gonzalez discussed discussed the need and opportunity embraced by the Master Plan with Sen. Nancy Skinner, Santa Clara County Superintendent Mary Dewan, State Board of Education member Kim Pattillo Brownson, and other experts – including Coalition partners Andra Yeghoian (Ten Strands), Jeff Vincent (Center for Cities + Schools at UC Berkeley), Jonathan Klein (UndauntedK12), and Leah Stokes (Rewiring America & The 2035 Initiative at UC Santa Barbara). 

Developing a Master Plan was a main recommendation made by the authors of A Call to Action: Climate-Resilient California Schools, a major research report released by Stanford School of Medicine on March 1. Coalition partners were leading contributors to the report. 

Let’s explore some key questions regarding the Master Plan:

Why does California need a Master Plan? 

We need a Master Plan to ensure that our schools make an equitable transition to sustainable, climate-resilient facilities and grounds. It has become increasingly difficult for California’s aging public school buildings, of which 40% are at least 50 years old, to maintain safe conditions for teaching and learning. At worst risk are the 60% of California’s K-12 students whose families are socioeconomically disadvantaged, who also disproportionately live where climate impacts – including extreme heat, wildfire smoke, and flooding – are most intense. School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic widened the achievement gaps that disadvantage Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous students, potentially affecting their lifetime attainment and earnings. These unacceptable disparities will persist, and likely worsen, unless vulnerable schools across the state are supported to adapt and keep students in school, even as local conditions change.

A Master Plan will close a gap in State policy, wherein mandates and incentives that are prompting local governments and other actors to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions don’t apply consistently to public school districts. Without clear guidance and support, districts continue to invest in antiquated, energy-inefficient, fossil gas-dependent systems and appliances. Once installed, such equipment – heating and air conditioning systems, for example – can run for 30 years. As a result, decisions local districts make in the 2020s will largely determine whether the State’s 11,000 public schools will play a part in fulfilling California’s longer-term climate goals. A Master Plan process will spark much-needed communication and coordination across State, County, and local agencies to identify approaches that meet the unique needs of schools and ensure that State assistance is actually helping local school districts update and safeguard their facilities. 

Last but not least, a Master Plan will help position California schools to win grants and leverage incentives for decarbonization and climate adaptation under the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act. Potential billions in federal aid to boost California’s schools is at stake – an especially important consideration in light of the State’s current revenue challenges. 

What will be in the Plan? 

Some of the key provisions in the Master Plan Bill are these:

How and when will a plan be created? 

Because the Master Plan will guide action and investment across the state, it’s critical that the planning process has the involvement and support of all relevant state officials and agencies, and is supported by credible research, stakeholder engagement, and collaboration. The process could look something like this (where 2023-24 is Year 1): 

With the Bill in the Legislature, what can anyone do to promote it? 

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