SACRAMENTO, California — Environmental and education groups are pressing the California Legislature to give schools access to hundreds of millions of dollars that were set aside for them to improve indoor air quality, after the California Energy Commission abruptly closed applications for the program.
Schools originally had until July 31 to apply for money from CalSHAPE, which bankrolls replacements of HVAC systems, air filters and other renovations that help schools mitigate the impacts of extreme heat and pollution. But the commission, which administers the program, moved the deadline to apply up to July 1, with just over one business day’s notice and little explanation — likely preventing several schools from applying to access the last round of funding. The program is currently set to end in 2026, but it will accept no new recipients after the deadline change.
As of Monday, more than two dozen groups had signed a letter pushing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers to make the funding available to schools.
“This change and related actions by the CEC have left schools and jobs in limbo at the same time as Californians have faced record-breaking extreme heat waves, California wildfires have already burned five times the average acreage for this time of year, and scientists have warned that the H5N1 virus could cause a new influenza pandemic,” groups wrote in the letter, which has been re-sent several times over the last few weeks to include new signatories.
