Lawmakers on track to pay for schools’ cooling

House and Senate negotiators appear close to agreeing on proposed legislation to pay for Gov. David Ige’s pledge to cool 1,000 public school classrooms by the end of 2016.

Lawmakers are still debating where the tens of millions of dollars in funding should come from, and are working to add in language aimed at curbing energy consumption and costs at state Department of Education schools. The DOE already has a $48 million annual utility budget without the anticipated influx of air conditioners.

In his State of the State address in January, Ige proposed borrowing $100 million from the state’s Green Energy Market Securitization, or GEMS, program to quickly install energy efficiency equipment and air conditioners. Although some lawmakers were uncomfortable about paying interest on the loaned money, and others questioned the DOE’s ability to carry out the work, the House and Senate both advanced legislation last month to accelerate the cooling of classrooms across the state.

Conference committee negotiations are scheduled to resume Thursday on Senate Bill 3126, which initially proposed using $100 million in general funds and $30 million in state-backed bonds for the initiative, and House Bill 2569, which proposed a combination of GEMS funds and state-backed bonds.

“There’s no hang-ups, per say,” Rep. Chris Lee (D, Kailua-Waima­nalo), chairman of the Energy and Environmental Protection Committee and one of the lead negotiators for the House, said after a brief conference committee meeting Tuesday.

“I think it’s more a question of coming to agreement on the source of the funding — whether it’s general funds or GEMS — and then also on final language that would allow ‘cool schools’ to move forward with cost controls and energy savings in place to protect taxpayers and to ensure that money that the department spends is focused on students rather than utilities,” Lee said.

He added, “The momentum is definitely there. I think this is a priority for everybody.”

Both bills say the funding would be used for “equipment and installation costs for air conditioning, other heat abatement measures, energy-efficient lighting, and other energy-efficiency measures related to heat abatement at public schools.” The DOE’s goal is for classroom temperatures to be at 76 degrees. Mechanical cooling is planned for classrooms in which heat abatement efforts — such as with ceiling fans, solar-powered vents to draw out hot air, and heat-reflective roof systems — don’t sufficiently bring down the temperature.

DOE officials are hoping the funds come through in time for the department to solicit bids next month and begin installation work during the summer break.

“The earliest we can anticipate getting that funding, at this point, is May 15. But I will say that would need to come with some caveats. As to the fact that we can actually access that money at that time, the reality is that money may not be available until the next fiscal year, so starting in July,” Dann Carlson, the DOE’s assistant superintendent for school facilities and support services, recently told the Board of Education.

“Again, using that May 15 time frame, we are still on track to go out for bid. But there are no contractors out there that are willing to go out and place orders for 2,000-plus air conditioners without the promise of that money in hand,” he said.

BOE Chairman Lance Mizumoto asked Carlson how much of the work could be completed before next school year. The current 2015-16 school year ends May 26, and the new academic year starts Aug. 1.

“We are going to do everything we possibly can to accomplish as much work in the summertime, because that’s our target of opportunity to really get into the classrooms,” Carlson said. “This is going to be very disruptive to the schools as we try to hit 1,000 classrooms with AC installation if we’re doing this after school starts.”

Of the 11,820 DOE classrooms across the state, roughly 4,400 classrooms had air conditioning as of last week, according to department data. A total of 49 schools — or 19 percent of DOE schools — have at least 90 percent of their classrooms air-conditioned.

The DOE came under intense public criticism last summer as temperatures reached record highs and teachers, students and parents complained about the sweltering conditions, which can make it hard to concentrate and became a health hazard in some cases.