Roth: More green for education

The state of Oklahoma has 537 school districts. In addition to classroom resources, teachers, and administration, each and every building, room, and space requires some form of energy. And for these school districts and the state, that means a bill: a utility bill. Tulsa Public Schools, the state’s second-largest school district, has faced an incredibly challenging economic time with some green creativity. Servicing 59 elementary schools, 15 middle schools and nine high schools, you can imagine that there is a whole lot of space that requires utility and energy. Tulsa Public Schools has partnered with an organization called Energy Education Inc. to figure out how to retrofit their schools and be more efficient.

From doing something as simple as turning out the lights more frequently, to identifying leaks and other faulty problems, to simply turning off the computers at the end of each day and updating HVAC units, Tulsa Public Schools has been able to make a small investment with a big return and save $1.4 million. That is close to 17 percent in savings for the district that suffered a $20 million budget cut alone this past year, with more cuts certain to come. Some elementary schools have been able to cut their utility costs by 50 percent.

While many state leaders and businesses are scrambling to find areas to cut with a looming budget shortfall coming this next year, Tulsa Public Schools has found an aggressive way to make some cuts: by being energy-smart and by turning out the lights. The work of Tulsa Public Schools demonstrates, practically, the phenomenal effect energy efficiency can have. The more money school districts can save, the more teachers can be hired, the more debt they can pay down, and the more resources they can place in the classroom, for the benefit of their primary purpose – Oklahoma’s kids.

Ultimately this means more of the money that is invested in education by you, the taxpayer, will actually be used for education, and not a utility bill.

I think all of us can take a lesson from Tulsa Public Schools. A for Effort.

Click here to view the original article.