NOTE: When it comes to our analysis of climate-driven air conditioning costs in public schools, Baltimore is the exception that proves the rule. The rule is our methodology, which identified 32 days over 80°F during the school year as the threshold at which air conditioning is installed in school classrooms, based on actual practice, public health criteria, and standard engineering protocols. The exception is Baltimore City, which had 35 days above 80° F during the school year in 1970, but did not and still does not have cooling systems in place in its public school system.
This exception had consequences: Because heat days in Baltimore exceeded the 32-day threshold in 1970, our method assumes that the city had cooling systems in place and we assign no climate-driven cooling equipment costs to the city, even though Baltimore will see 15 more days over 80° F in 2025 than in 1970 (to 50 days total) and even though Baltimore schools have been battling a cooling crisis for many years, exacerbated by climate change.
Simply put, our method is conservative, and tends to understate the impact of climate change on the costs of cooling the nation’s public schools.
Baltimore City is lagging significantly behind the rest of Maryland when it comes to keeping classrooms cool. Twenty-four of the city’s public schools still do not have air conditioning, and have been forced to close early on extremely hot days.
Baltimore City schools suffer from outdated infrastructure, mold, lead contamination, and a lack of funding that has prevented many schools from installing both heating equipment and air conditioning — especially in its lower-income communities and communities of color.
These inequities are heightened by the fact that Baltimore’s poorest neighborhoods are also heating up the fastest, according to findings from NPR and the University of Maryland’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. The study found that in recent years, residents from these low-income, fast-warming areas were admitted to hospitals at significantly higher rates than people living in cooler areas, and they presented a variety of heat-related illnesses.
That’s especially worrisome, as many Baltimore schools don’t have the air filtration equipment necessary to protect students from the myriad air toxins to which they’re exposed. The city’s air is polluted by a range of sources, including highways, trash incinerators, and fossil fuel and chemical manufacturing facilities.
“As our climate continues to warm and extreme heat days become more frequent and severe, students across the city of Baltimore — especially in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color already threatened in school by toxic air pollution nearby — are paying the price with their health and learning,” said Delegate Stephanie Smith, who represents District 45 in Baltimore City.
In 2016, Gov. Larry Hogan and Comptroller Peter Franchot instructed both Baltimore City and Baltimore County to develop plans for installing air conditioning in all schools, and a divided state Board of Public Works voted to withhold millions of dollars in construction funding until the city and county complied. While both districts moved forward with plans, the City warned that doing so would delay other projects like fire safety and roofing.
“City Schools does not have sufficient funds to address these needs or even to perform necessary basic and preventative maintenance with the frequency recommended under industry standards, including to critical mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and security systems,” reads the district’s February 2021 air-conditioning plan update.
While the district originally planned to air condition all schools with window units and split systems by the 2022-2023 school year, it underestimated the overall costs to do so. In 2019, the Baltimore Teachers Union collected donated fans to prepare for a sweltering September; prior to donations, teachers said they had no choice but to pull from their own paychecks.
Ultimately, the district decided to install vertical package units (VPUs), which provide both heating and cooling, as a better and more cost-effective option given the lack of funds required to equip schools with central air. Still, the new date of completion will depend on the availability of Capital Improvement Program funds, which will be disbursed to a range of priorities for the district.
“Every child in Baltimore deserves the opportunity to learn in a comfortable and safe environment,” Delegate Smith said. “Corporate polluters need to pay their fair share for the costs of addressing the dangerous climate impacts they knowingly caused.”