The State of High Performance Schools in the Northeast

by Alex McPherson
High Performance Schools Exchange Intern

The state of High Performance Schools in the Northeast is one of optimism. For several years there has been movement within the states to enact higher standards for our children's educational facilities, and these efforts are now beginning to create change and action. There have been many exciting developments and progress is certain to continue.

The demand for High Performance Schools comes from many agents, and is caused by several effects. In any given community, there will tend to be a “champion” of High Performance Schools who understands the benefits they come with and moves the building process in that direction. Depending on the community, this could be the forward-thinking architect, the budget-minded superintendent, the parenting community expressing concern for their children’s health. This demand is coming from both education and modeling of other schools. As the pioneer High Performance Schools across the country continue to undergo technical review and study, their benefits are further enumerated. High Performance Schools typically have an initial cost of 2 percent over a traditional school, but the lifetime savings will be roughly 20 times that initial investment (Kats, 2006). Word of the financial benefits dovetails nicely with the health benefits of improved indoor air quality, which have been documented by the Children’s Institute for Environmental Health. All of these factors have been leading up to a critical mass in support for High Performance Schools.

NEEP and the High Performance Schools Exchange (HPSE) are working hard with the states in our region to capitalize on this growing support for advanced schools. A region-specific set of building standards called Northeast-CHPS (NE-CHPS) was  finalized in February 2007 and based off on the Massachusetts and New York versions of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) protocol, to provide guidelines to communities looking to build and renovate better schools. By forming working groups in each state comprising critical public officials, policymakers, and technical specialists, the HPSE has made progress towards its goal of a High Performance School in each state by 2010. CHPS schools have been built in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Rhode Island and Massachusetts have adopted NE-CHPS and MA-CHPS, respectively, as the mandated school building criteria for their state. New Hampshire offers reimbursements for energy efficient improvements, and Connecticut has NE-CHPS listed as an alternate building criteria. Without steady input from each of the state’s working groups and NEEP, this progress would not have been possible.

NEEP is not alone in this effort: each state in our region has rebates, incentives, and other programs to assist with and advocate for High Performance Schools. In Massachusetts and New Hampshire both offer additional funding for energy efficient improvements made to schools. New York has many programs which offer financial benefits to communities that choose to pursue a High Performance School for their town. The states are behind the effort, and with coordination from NEEP and the regional working groups, the best is yet to come.

For more information, contact Carolyn Sarno, Exchange Program Manager.