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When the avoided societal and district costs of workers compensation and litigation are also considered, high performance schools becomes an even wiser business choice for your school district. Life-Cycle Costing School facilities are investments. State government and local communities
spend billions of dollars per year on new facilities for current and future
generations of students. Unfortunately, the institutional separation of
operational and construction budgets can create schools that are economically,
environmentally, and educationally poor investments. Many high performance measures can be incorporated into a school design
without increasing first-costs, but additional investments can increase
the health and efficiency of the school even further. Under the standard
methodology, design measures that clearly reduce the operating budget
may not be included because the district may has no means to cover any
additional incremental costs. And only by looking at all three parameters simultaneously can the impacts
of specific design approaches, especially those which result in better
long term performance, be evaluated. High performance classroom glazing,
for example, may cost more upfront but may result in energy savings that
pay for the glazing in a few years and then continue to save money for
the school for years to come. Life cycle cost analysis is the key to making
these kinds of comparisons and to creating new schools with the lowest
long term costs of ownership. Note, however, that life-cycle costing will only address some of the benefits of High Performance Design. Many benefits, such as improved health and test scores, are valuable, but difficult to quantify monetarily. Reduced Operating Expenses High performance schools cost less to operate. School districts spend
less for electricity, gas, water, maintenance, and other ongoing facility
operating costs, enabling more money to be spent for salaries, books,
teaching supplies and other items with a more immediate link to the true
mission of schools: educating students. How much savings can be expected? School districts can save 30 to 40
percent on annual utility costs for new schools and 20 to 30 percent on
renovated schools by applying high performance design and sustainability
concepts. The potential for savings is greater in new schools because
it is possible to "design out" inefficiencies from the outset.
These savings are designed into the building and will save money year
after year, for decades. The US Department of Energy's Rebuild America K-12 Schools Program estimates
that school energy costs are approximately $100 per student year, depending
on region and climate conditions. Adding in the costs of water, wastewater
processing and trash raises the cost to approximately $125 per student
per year. High performance design solutions can yield savings of up to
$50 per student per year. In addition, high performance schools are healthy,
and can bring more money into the school by lowering student absenteeism.
With current revenue limit rates of $4,300 to $5,200 per student directly
dependent on Average Daily Attendance (ADA), even small increases in attendance
can significantly affect funding. Integrated design is the key to savings of this magnitude. From the beginning
of the design process, each of the building elements (windows, walls,
building materials, air-conditioning, landscaping, etc.) is considered
part of an integrated system of interacting components. Choices in one
area often affect other building systems; integrated design leverages
these interactions to maximize the overall building performance. Increased FundsInvesting in high performance measures that increase the health of the school can bring monetary returns to your school. District funds come from a variety of State, Federal, and local sources, and every district has a unique blend of sources. In general, a district's funding can be divided into three components:
High Performance School can increase the amount of school funding by
increasing your average daily attendance. Because the revenue limits range
from $4,300 to $5,175, even small changes in attendance can significantly
effect your schools bottom line. Recent changes in the funding mechanism
that exclude excused absences from the average daily attendance calculation
further increase the financial necessity of keeping as many students in
class as possible. Although many studies have correlated characteristics of the indoor
environment to changes in student health, behavior, and performance, estimating
the degree to which absenteeism might be reduced by a given investment
in high performance design is unknown. Ongoing research may eventually
provide a methodology, but it is reasonable to assume that investing in
high indoor environmental can decrease absenteeism. Financial Incentive and Technical Assistance Programs Several programs are currently available to financially and technically
assist districts and designers in creating high performance schools. Complete
descriptions and contact information are available on the programs
page. Avoided Costs and Litigation RiskThe considerable costs of poor school IEQ are paid by students, staff,
parents, and the local community. In the school populations, the costs
include poor health, reduced learning effectiveness, and increased frustration
when IEQ problems become unmanageable. These costs are difficult to quantify.
More easily counted are the strained budgets and staff resources expended
by districts for facility repairs due to insufficient maintenance, community-relations
damage control, litigation and workers compensation claims. In addressing
such problems, schools must use resources that would otherwise be available
for educational and other programs. Poor school IEQ can cause both short-term (reversible) and long-term
(chronic) effects in students and staff. Overcrowded, poorly ventilated
classrooms contribute substantially to the spread of infectious diseases,
such as colds and influenza. Poorly maintained carpets, dirty air ducts,
and water-damaged materials are prime breeding grounds for a plethora
of substances that can trigger asthma attacks, sensitize allergy-prone
individuals, and cause sinus and respiratory infections. Asthma is one
of the environmentally triggered diseases acquired during childhood which
may be carried will into the adult years. Other chronic diseases include
irreversible lung and respiratory illnesses that result from chronic irritation
by airborne chemical and/or biological contaminants. The economic costs
of these long term, possibly life-long, diseases are substantial; the
costs in terms of quality of life and more profound, and certainly difficult
to measure. One of the ramifications of school building neglect and its consequent
adverse effects on IEQ is the potential for litigation from students,
parents, and/or staff. Crisis stage IEQ problems can be extremely costly,
litigious, and detrimental to long-term relations among school administrators,
staff, parents, students, and public agencies. The fiscal, political,
and social costs of addressing a crisis situation are often far larger
than anticipated. Schools may close temporarily when a formerly manageable
problem becomes a financial, logistic, and emotional crisis. Besides the
costs of conducting emergency repairs, a school closing requires alternative
space and making up missed classes. Re-opening schools that have been
closed is also a difficult process, due to the logistics of inspections,
the uncertainties of authority, and the residual fears. Workers' compensation
claims by school staff are another financial cost to districts when IEQ
complaints escalate. A number of lawsuits have been filed against California school districts.
For example, after complains, investigations, and legal actions spanning
more than three years, a student received a cash settlement for damages
from "contaminated air" in his junior high school classroom.
At the same time a third of the school staff filed workers' compensation
claims for respiratory and other health problems. In other states, lawsuits
have been settled for millions of dollars. In a school district in Washington,
D.C. leaky school roofs and other IEQ problems prompted a judge to order
closed 21 school buildings due to the resultant potential fire hazard.
It is clear that for each incident that makes the evening news or is adjudicated
in court, there are many less publicized cases occurring in other districts.
Building a high performance school helps protect districts from IEQ problems by designing out potential problems and documenting the health of the facility.
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