Senators tout building better schools
Source: Chris Dunker/Daily Sun staff writerWednesday, Feb 17, 2010 – 10:06:04 am CST
LINCOLN – When it comes to producing high performance students, Sen. Ken Haar said it begins with creating high performance schools.
Haar, the author of LB 1096, an act for schools to adopt the High Performance Schools Initiative, said one of the jobs of the Legislature is to educate the citizens.
“LB1096 is really about educating,” Haar said.
The High Performance School Act would allow schools to become more energy efficient and utilize a more natural environment – saving tax dollars through eliminating energy and water costs and creating a better environment for education.
“High performance school buildings produce high performance kids,” Haar repeated. “It’s not about buildings, it’s about students and teachers. In high performance buildings, or green buildings as some people sometimes say it, you see students performing better on test scores, there is less absenteeism, and there are healthier and happier students.”
“High performance buildings save energy immediately, water immediately and taxes over time,” Haar said.
Schools who choose to become high performance buildings also create jobs, the senator said.
“You can’t outsource construction or retrofitting,” Haar said. “It creates local jobs and uses local supplies from local suppliers and loans from local banks.”
Beatrice Public Schools business manager Chris Nelson spoke in support of LB 1096 at the Education Committee Tuesday afternoon.
“For the past 15 years, Beatrice Public Schools has been initiated in a number of energy saving projects,” Nelson said. “We’ve used different methods to pay for those, including no-interest loans through the Nebraska State Energy Office and we’ve purchased it through our general operating fund. The results from our efforts have resulted in energy use that is low.”
Nelson said a legislative approach will open doors for schools to receive grants and low-interest loans to create a better atmosphere for student learning and is essential as schools across the state look to eliminate expenditures.
By entering into a contract as a High Performance School, Nebraska public schools are eligible to receive grants from the Nebraska Environmental Trust, as well as grants and loans from funds allocated to the Nebraska Energy Office and the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
“The opportunities that are presented in LB 1096 are presented at a critical time for schools,” Nelson said. “During the last 19 months, we’ve seen three electric rate hikes in our district alone.”
“Additionally, we’re entering a period where school finances will be severely tested and funds for any facility enhancements will be difficult to come by,” Nelson said.
He added the provisions of the bill provide “flexibility” to schools looking at construction projects to improve overall efficiency.
“In providing this flexibility, we can better meet the objectives and needs of our students,” Nelson said.
Committee member Sen. Kate Sullivan of Cedar Bluffs questioned Nelson about the district’s proactive approach and if legislation would be needed to push schools towards becoming more energy efficient.
Nelson told the senator the bill provides more options to schools who want to take part in the initiative but may be short on funds to do so.
“This just gives you another option out there similar to some things in the past we have utilized that are no longer available,” Nelson said. “We’re going to have a very difficult time these next few years with finances, and unless there is an outside source, we’re not going to be able to look at some of these initiatives.”
While BPS has been active in an energy savings program for the last 15 years, the last three of those years have been in conjunction with a consulting firm called Energy Education Incorporated and with former Beatrice High School teacher, now energy manager and educator Robert McClelland.
Nelson said McClelland has been instrumental in “the human side of things,” when it comes to district energy savings.
“We have been looking at all kinds of things that are possible with reducing energy use,” McClelland said. “The focus in Beatrice has been natural gas and electricity.”
“The key is that it is people-centered,” McClelland said. I have been working with all staff: maintenance, custodial, food service, the teaching staff, the support staff and administrators.”
“The goal here is getting everyone involved and making everyone aware of things they can do to cut back,” he said.
McClelland said the district has been using a comprehensive software package that monitors energy usage, the changing energy costs as well as the impact of the weather to provide data that can be put to use in generating savings for the district.
Over the last three years alone, the district has saved nearly $265,000 – a savings of nearly 20 percent a year from an estimated $350,000 energy budget.
This has been done by simple measures, McClelland and Nelson both said, such as turning off lights in classrooms, shutting down computers when they are not in use, and operating machinery at its most efficient level.
“The key is that it has been a cooperative effort,” McClelland said, adding consultants analyzed the data BPS had accumulated and made suggestions that would generate drastic savings over time.
“Back in our first summer, we brought a set of energy guidelines that we wanted to work with as a school district, so we’ve had approval from Dr. (Dale) Kruse that we should follow energy guidelines. The board made a resolution, published those to everyone in our staff so they are aware of what we’re trying to do.
“We’ve gotten everyone to realize that we’ve got to pursue this. It’s not one person, it’s not me by any means,” McClelland said. “It helps people see what we’re doing and how it makes a difference.”
McClelland said saving energy in the schools is a learning process, and not unlike his teaching days, information is not automatically absorbed the first time.
“It’s a matter of changing habits and becoming more aware of what’s going on around them,” he said. “We’ve had to work on this. We’re all human and people forget, so it’s an ongoing process of reminding people that we’ve done great, but not to let down their guard.”
