Healthy, High Performance School Facilities:
Developments in State Policy

New York

Citation: NY-CHPS Version 1.0: High Performance Schools Guidelines
Effective: May 2007
Available: HERE

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the New York State Education Department have developed NY-CHPS, a set of voluntary high performance school design guidelines for New York schools. The guidelines are adapted, in part, from the original CHPS Best Practices Manual by permission of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools. According to the document, the guidelines have been tailored to New York code requirements and the priorities of the State Education Department. The state “has organized and added new material to emphasize criteria that directly contribute to student learning, reduced maintenance, and long building life.” See NY-CHPS Version 1.0 at vii. For example, the NY-CHPS guidelines contain considerably more required and optional practices under the Indoor Environment category than other high performance school building guidelines.

The Education Department has formally incorporated the guidelines as a voluntary appendix to the N.Y. State Education Department’s Manual of Planning Standards, which is used by all school construction projects that fall under the auspices of the department.