As Pittsburgh public schools planned to return to in-person class in the fall, the system faced a dire question: with only about 12 of 55 buildings equipped with air conditioning, and both students and teachers wearing masks all day, how would teachers and students fare in the heat?
The stumbling block is cash. The district has estimated that installing new cooling systems could cost $1.5 to $7 million per school, and the entire process could take more than a decade.
“We couldn’t sustain that on our current revenue sources,” Pamela Capretta, chief operations officer for the district, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We have limited dollars and we like to put most of our money into instructional needs.”
There’s no easy answer, but the district will need to start thinking. Even after the brunt of COVID-19 passes, higher temperatures could pose a real danger to students and staff. In 2018, multiple schools across the district were forced to close early or cancel classes during an extended heat wave in early September — a first for the district. The start of that same school year was delayed due to mold and air quality issues caused by heavy summer rains.
In 2018, Pennsylvania spent an estimated $261 million on climate-related costs, according to a report by the state’s auditor general. The report’s section on projected costs includes millions of dollars to install air conditioning in public schools in response to rapid warming.
Pittsburgh Public Schools will incur some of the highest cooling costs in the country. To read more about all of Pennsylvania’s schools, check out the Pennsylvania state page.