Many school and university buildings are too old for the energy transition. A Carbon Free and Healthy Schools Bond Act would help districts make upgrades.
New York’s students walk into school buildings every morning with big dreams. But too many of those buildings across every region of the state are simply not built for the realities of today — or the climate of tomorrow.
If we’re serious about student health, academic success and meeting New York’s clean-energy goals, we need a statewide investment that matches the scope of the challenge. A Carbon Free and Healthy Schools Bond Act is that investment.
According to state facilities data, the average school building in New York was already over 50 years old as of 2005. Many were constructed in the 1950s through the 1970s, long before modern ventilation standards, reliable cooling or energy-efficient design. National data tells a similar story: The average U.S. instructional school building is now 49 years old, with 38% built before 1970.
When buildings are this old, they weren’t designed for the electrical loads needed for solar power, clean-energy systems or modern filtration. We are asking mid-20th-century facilities to meet 21st-century climate and learning demands. It will not work without major capital investment.
Clean air, stable temperatures and reliable heating and cooling are not luxuries; they are basic conditions for learning. A Carbon Free and Healthy Schools Bond Act would allow districts to make the kinds of long-term energy and health upgrades students and educators desperately need: modern ventilation, healthier air, updated heating and cooling, new electrical systems, solar power installations and the infrastructure required for electric school buses.
Solar is especially powerful. Schools are among the most effective sites in New York for solar energy generation, dramatically reducing operating costs and freeing up local funds for classrooms and student support.
Our public colleges face the same pressures. SUNY’s 2,800 buildings carry a deferred maintenance backlog of roughly $10 billion that is growing by $600 million to $700 million each year. A bond act that includes SUNY and CUNY recognizes that climate leadership and educational excellence are inseparable, and that New York’s higher education system cannot prepare the workforce of tomorrow in buildings built for the last century.
School districts and colleges want to modernize their buildings, cut energy use, and install solar; they just cannot shoulder these costs alone. Many lack access to the engineering, planning and technical support needed for comprehensive decarbonization plans. A Carbon Free and Healthy Schools Bond Act would provide grants, capital funding, technical assistance and expert advisers to help districts and campuses, ensuring that high-need and rural communities benefit just as much as wealthier ones.
And every clean-energy upgrade, solar installation, and bus-charging project is a jobs project. A bond act can ensure that the transition to carbon-free schools and campuses strengthens apprenticeship pathways, supports local economies and creates thousands of good union jobs across the state.
Funding for the transition to electric school buses is equally urgent. New York’s mandate for 100% zero-emission buses by 2035 was an ambitious move, but the upfront costs are enormous. A bond act would help districts purchase buses, build charging infrastructure, integrate solar-powered depots and reduce long-term transportation costs. This is about climate — but it is also about the air children breathe every morning and afternoon at the curb in front of their school.
A Carbon Free and Healthy Schools Bond Act is more than a climate measure. It is an education reform, a public-health strategy, an equity commitment and a statewide jobs program. Our students deserve schools and colleges built for their future. It’s time for New York to pass a Carbon Free and Healthy Schools Bond Act and give every student, from kindergarten through college, a safe, modern and sustainable place to learn.