It’s looking more and more promising that lawmakers will be funding a proposal to cool as many as 1,000 public school classrooms by the end of the year.
But receiving as much as $100 million will hinge on the state Department of Education’s (DOE) ability to present lawmakers with a clear, aggressive strategy and timeline.
Signs are hopeful the DOE has stepped up its game as it accelerates its comprehensive Heat Abatement plan, which has identified 32 schools in most need of air conditioning and other forms of cooling.
DOE spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz told the Star-Advertiser that assessments are being done at each of those schools and recommendations for each campus should be completed by mid-March.
DOE is implementing a seven-phase approach contingent on funding that would meet Gov. David Ige’s goal to cool 1,000 classrooms by year’s end, Dela Cruz said.
It’s an ambitious plan, but let’s hope the DOE can meet its own expectations to execute contracts by the start of summer toward that goal.
The push to cool public school classrooms is finally receiving due attention from officials — and now that there appears to be buy-in, the debate turns to where the money will come from.
Several funding measures have surfaced — Ige wants to borrow $100 million from a state green energy fund while Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Jill Tokuda favors using federal Medicaid reimbursement money — but the onus is on the DOE to sell its plan to lawmakers, then follow through.
House Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke expressed doubts last week that the DOE is prepared to move ahead with Ige’s ambitious timeline.
Luke rightly called for a DOE plan with more specifics about how the department will prioritize the work.
Dela Cruz on Friday said DOE has been meeting with lawmakers to go over its timeline, and we’re encouraged by the DOE’s seven-phase approach:
Phase one includes assessment and analysis at each of the 32 schools; phase two is review and recommendations; the design phase is third; phase four is bidding; phase five is awarding the bid; phase six involves contract execution by summertime; and last is construction.
“Our road to a thousand classrooms is doable for us, based on funding,” Dela Cruz said, noting no corners are being cut to achieve its goals. Indeed, the DOE must be expedient while adhering to state procurement laws.
Progress in upgrading or installing cooling systems had been painstakingly slow until the record heat last year brought the longstanding issue to a roiling boil.
Amid criticism and public pressure, DOE purchased and installed hundreds of portable air conditioners last year, and has been using other methods such as applying reflective coating on rooftops.
The issue gained enough traction that it was part of Ige’s State of the State address in January: he called for borrowing $100 million in Green Energy Market Securitization (GEMS) funds to cool the 1,000 classrooms.
But chances are slim that his funding scheme will gain legislative approval — and for good reason.
The GEMS fund was authorized by lawmakers in 2013 specifically to provide low-interest loans to Hawaii nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters to purchase green technology such as photovoltaic systems — not for state departments to raid.
The state issued bonds in November 2014, making $145 million available to finance clean-energy improvements through low-interest loans.
Rather than co-opt the GEMS fund, the state needs to do a better job of promoting the fledgling program, which only recently began issuing loans.
Further, Tokuda said Ige’s proposal would require paying interest on the loan, which would be more expensive than her suggestion to tap part of a $170 million reimbursement from the federal government that is owed to the state in connection with Medicaid.
That reimbursement will be deposited in the state’s treasury, but was not included in Ige’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year.
Even the state Department of Human Services agreed that using those funds would not hurt the Medicaid program, which makes the reimbursement funds a far more favorable resource.
At least $80 million of the reimbursement money could be available for the school initiative.
DOE officials’ rapid response is what’s needed to show lawmakers that they can and will deliver on promises.
The heat is on, so to speak, to take real action on 1,000 or more sweltering classrooms, for the sake of long-suffering students and teachers.
