Funding for cooler schools advances

The push to cool public school classrooms got a boost Monday as the state House Education Committee advanced a bill that would dedicate $25 million to air-condition schools next school year.

The measure still faces the House Finance Committee, which will need to prioritize a long list of competing interests for state funds this year.

But advocates welcomed the progress in light of last week’s decision in the Senate to shelve Senate Bill 2559, which would have mandated air conditioning in all public schools within the next five years. That measure had also included a $25 million appropriation for the first phase of the work.

House Education Chairman Roy Takumi (D, Pearl City-Wai­pio-Pearl Harbor) recommended his committee pass out House Bill 2596 with no changes. The committee’s vice chairman, Rep. Taka­shi Ohno, a former elementary school teacher, sponsored the measure, which was co-signed by 29 of his House colleagues.

Ohno (D, Nuu­anu-Li­liha-Alewa Heights) said he introduced the measure so that the issue could be vetted in a public hearing, where lawmakers could hear firsthand from teachers and students.

It essentially replicates a $25 million budget request from the state Board of Education for air conditioning projects, he said. But because the line item is buried in Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s proposed $2.7 billion capital improvements budget, Ohno felt it might get overlooked.

"This is something I want the Legislature to deal with, so the purpose of bringing this very hot — literally — issue forward was to highlight it," he said. "We need to put students in better environments to learn."

The House Education Committee voted 10-0 to move the bill forward following a public hearing Monday.

Corey Rosenlee, a social studies teacher at Campbell High School, has taken the lead in bringing attention to the sweltering conditions in some classrooms, testifying on bills and organizing rallies. He said he’s been advocating for air conditioning in public schools for seven years.

Rosenlee offered to host lawmakers in classrooms at his Ewa Beach campus, where he says temperatures have hit 95 degrees this school year.

"They built these things with four cinder-block, thick walls. Two of the walls have absolutely no windows. The other two have windows just at the top. This is a perfect design for an oven, not a classroom," Rosenlee said Monday, testifying in support of HB 2596.

He added that classroom temperatures at Kahuku High topped 100 degrees this school year, while an empty classroom at Hono­­wai Elementary in Wai­pahu reached 91 degrees.

Rosenlee said students suffer in the stifling conditions, unable to concentrate on lessons.

"One of our greatest responsibilities is to make sure that all of our children have a quality learning environment. And 95 degrees for six hours a day is the way you make a cake, not a scholar," he said. "At the end of the day, these kids have been in these hot classrooms all day, and you see, literally, their bodies break down. They put their heads down. Learning stops."

The state Department of Education, which had opposed the Senate measure mandating air conditioning in all schools by 2019, supported the House bill.

The bill seeks to provide the $25 million for the upcoming school year, with priority given to schools identified by the Department of Education.

Now only 12 public schools out of 255 have central air conditioning throughout their campuses, according to the DOE. Most schools have limited air conditioning in their libraries and computer labs.

There are nine schools on the department’s priority AC list, which includes Campbell in the No. 3 spot. Since 2002 five campuses statewide have been air-conditioned and moved off that list.

The Imua Alliance, an advocacy group that focuses on good government and education initiatives, supported the bill at Monday’s hearing but noted that the $25 million appropriation would fund only a sliver of the estimated $1.5 billion needed to outfit all public classrooms with air conditioning.

Kris Coffield, the organization’s legislative director, asked lawmakers to support other pending measures that would require the DOE to come up with a plan to eventually cool all schools.

The Senate Education Committee last week moved Senate Bill 2424, which would require the department and the state Department of Accounting and General Services to "jointly develop a master strategy for cooling all public school facilities and conduct a comprehensive study" that looks at estimated installation and maintenance costs. A report would be due ahead of next year’s legislative session.