Healthy, High Performance School Facilities:

Developments in State Policy

Pennsylvania

Citation: 24 Pennsylvania Statutes §25-2574 (c.4)

Effective: July 2005
Available: HERE

This law directs the state Department of Education to provide additional state school construction funding to school building projects that receive LEED certification at the silver level or higher. The law was amended in 2006 (2005 PA H.B. 185) to allow funding also for projects that earn two, three or four Globes under the Green Building Initiative’s Green Globes Green Building Rating System. Under the law, the department will adjust an eligible project’s approved construction costs by the product of the rated pupil capacity and $470 (for elementary schools) or $620 (for secondary schools). The law directs the department, in consultation with the Governor’s Green Government Council, to issue guidelines for implementing the law. In 2009, the state Department of Education released a Basic Education Circular (BEC) explaining the state policies that guide school construction reimbursements, including the added funding for construction of high performance schools. The Circular also describes the High Performance Green Schools program, a separately financed state program providing planning grants for design of high performance schools.

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