Under a new grant program, schools wishing to reduce their energy and water usage can qualify for state funding to install more efficient systems or bring in consultants to get the best results from energy-reducing equipment already in place.
Rep. Lucy Mason, R-1, said she targeted schools for the program because of the tremendous amount of energy and water they collectively use. If they can begin to reduce their usage, she said, it will have a significant impact on the state.
“Most of the citizens in this state understand we need to be doing this,” she said. “What I’m trying to do is look at the big energy users.”
Calling the $2.5 million grant fund a “first step,” Mason said the program will be a good start and should entice a number of school districts to replace inefficient power- or water-management systems. A budget approved by the House in May set the appropriation at $10 million, but it was scaled back to $2.5 million.
Recent advances in technology, especially in the field of solar power, will be a benefit to not just the schools.
“It’s cleaner, it’s better for the environment,” she said. “We’re finding ways to help ourselves and we need to take advantage of them.”
House Majority Leader Tom Boone, R-4, was instrumental in getting the measure passed, Mason says, because he insisted it be included as part of the Republican caucus’ short list of priorities for the session.
While Boone says he supports efforts “to reduce utility usage in general,” he was especially keen on a program aimed at schools because it coincides with an impending deadline that will mean less utility funding for about 100 Arizona school districts.
In 2000, voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 301, which increased the state sales tax for public education funding purposes. As part of the measure, the law that allows budgeting for excess utilities is repealed after fiscal year 2008-09. As on July 1, 2009, school districts are prohibited from budgeting for excess utility use.
Boone, who has been working on ways to wean the affected school districts off of the high energy use for several years, says the grants could “help them to make a transition” in advance of the 2009 deadline.
While the program is only funded for one year under the current budget, both Mason and Boone hope to extend it into the near future, if not make it permanent. The biggest boon to that cause, they agreed was for a large response from school districts.
“If there’s a real interest in the school districts applying for the grants…I think that will provide some momentum going into the legislative session,” Boone said.
Mason says she expects a lot of competition for the grants. Even before it through the legislative process, she says school officials were praising the program.
“I was being stopped during session by school administrators who were thanking me for this before it was even passed,” she said.