When the Center for Green Schools was founded in 2010, we set a bold vision: green schools for all within this generation. With this vision came urgency; we had 30 years to get 55 million students into schools that enhance their well-being, prepare them for green careers and support their communities and planet.

Sound impossible? Fourteen years in, we have never been more committed to making it happen, and we have more clarity than ever on what is needed to get there.

Achieving green schools

Here are four steps that help create greener schools:

Fund school buildings. First, we believe that, at a foundational level, schools and districts need additional funding to repair and modernize school buildings, as well as a more equitable system of funding school buildings and grounds. We are leading advocates at the federal and state levels for this funding.
Plan for sustainability. We believe that when resources become available, schools and districts must have comprehensive sustainability plans already in place so that they are ready to quickly put funding and staff to work to achieve greener schools. We create clarity around these plans, keep track of which districts have succeeded in formalizing them and highlight exemplars.
Put it in someone’s hands. We believe that to create a plan and stick to it depends on someone whose job requires it. We advocate for these positions and provide tools for effective community advocacy.
Help them hit it out of the park. Last but not least, we believe that these individuals’ success depends on a community of peers, experts and advocates who can train, support and build the case for them and enable their work. We are the primary national convener of these staff and place our support of them at the center of everything we do.

Top-line results from 2023

In 2023, we made significant strides toward reaching our bold vision and laid the foundation for expanding our impact in 2024 and beyond. Here we’ve crunched the numbers to present an overview of results from the year.

Celebrating new funding for schools: In the past couple of years, we’ve celebrated the passage of billions in funding for green schools within the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. In 2023, these exciting programs began to roll out, including the Department of Energy (DOE) Renew America’s Schools grants and the direct-pay option for Clean Energy Investment Tax Credits.
Raising awareness: We reached 177 million people with messages about the importance of green and healthy schools through TV, print media and radio. The most popular stories we contributed to were “This Is the Existential Crisis: A Push for Climate Education” in the Boston Herald in June and “Creating This New Position Could Save Schools Money. Here’s How” in Education Week in May.
Educating school staff: We directly educated over 2,600 individuals through our in-person and virtual events, including almost 700 unique school district staff members from around the country. In late summer, we hosted a successful four-part series on federal funding for school buildings that saw over 800 unique participants. All of the education we designed received high marks from attendees, with satisfaction rates in each case of over 90%.
Building peer networks: Our school district peer learning networks flourished this year. For example, the network for school district indoor air quality (IAQ) staff, founded in August 2022, reached over 350 unique participants, representing huge growth.
Collaborating with the research community: We recruited partners and hosted a national School IAQ Research Summit, which brought together top school IAQ researchers and school district staff to discuss the next generation of research needed to support healthy air in schools. Additionally, with Colorado State University, we published a peer-reviewed article in Building and Environment on the impact of LEED enhanced air quality credits on outcomes related to COVID-19.
Strengthening national partnerships: We signed a memorandum of agreement with DOE this year to work together on energy and IAQ training for school district staff, and we worked closely with both DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to host in-person trainings to educate school staff about IAQ management plans. We also led a collaborative effort to host the School IAQ Research Summit, working alongside DOE, ASHRAE, the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate, the School Superintendents Association, and the Collaborative for High Performance Schools. All of these partnerships help us reach more school districts and strengthen the community of agencies and nonprofits who are dedicated to this work.
Launching new endeavors: We were selected from a competitive pool to receive a phase I award through DOE’s Buildings UP Prize, which will move us toward state-level work on energy efficiency improvements with small and rural school districts. We are thrilled to have the resources to forge a new phase of work that will enhance our ability to reach historically disadvantaged communities.
Providing tools to do the work: This year, we published resources that were viewed by over 10,000 people.

Our published resources this year included

"Managing Sustainability and Indoor Air Quality in School Districts," a profile report about school district sustainability and IAQ staff, and an accompanying toolkit for hiring staff.
A fact sheet, alongside our four-part webcast series, with top tips from experts about accessing federal funding for school buildings.
"State-Level Legislation Concerning K–12 Climate Change Education," a toolkit for state legislators and advocates to support climate change education.
Proceedings from our groundbreaking School IAQ Research Summit.

Additionally, our popular IAQ Fact Sheet series, published in 2022, continued to be used and referenced. Over 9,000 people viewed the series in 2023 alone.

Thank you to our members and partners

The dedication of USGBC members and the generosity of the Center for Green Schools’ financial partners allows us to grow our work. We are excited for the large-scale momentum that we see in our green schools movement, and we look forward to the year ahead!

Learn more about the Center for Green Schools

2023 results from the Center for Green Schools