NYS Bill Sets Maximum Temperature in Schools: What This Could Mean for Your District
By: John Lahey, P.E. | Senior Project Engineer at H2M architects + engineers
Lahey was interviewed and quoted on this subject in articles published by CBS News and Newsday.
The New York State legislature has passed a bill that establishes a maximum temperature in school buildings. If Governor Kathy Hochul signs it, schools will be required to take action when classrooms and educational support spaces exceed certain temperatures. There are a few things that school districts should keep in mind when developing a plan to comply with the potential law.
The stated goal of Senate Bill S3397A is to protect the health and safety of students, faculty, and staff when conditions become a health risk. If the temperature exceeds 82ºF, schools will have to take measures to cool it down, such as turning off the overhead lights, closing the blinds, and providing water breaks. If temperatures exceed 88ºF, then the room must be evacuated. Room temperatures will be measured in a shaded location near the center of the room, three feet above the floor. The bill will also require school districts to add extreme heat conditions to their building-level emergency plans. Kitchens and food preparation spaces will be exempt from the maximum temperature rule. If signed the bill, the rules will go into effect September 1, 2025.
Why are Classrooms Getting So Hot?
Internal classroom temperatures are influenced by a variety of factors including the outdoor ambient temperature, position of the classroom’s windows relative to the sun, occupants and their activities, and existing ventilation systems. Extreme heat days are not common, but their frequency is increasing and are most likely to occur in the “shoulder seasons” of the school year (September and May). Not all school districts in New York have the building-wide cooling infrastructure necessary to handle extreme heat days. Some classrooms are equipped with window-mounted air conditioning units, but these have limited efficacy. Window units need to run in tandem with unconditioned ventilation units that improve or maintain air quality without changing the air temperature. As a result, there can be pockets of both warm and cold air in a room. Furthermore, window units are noisy and have poor distribution, which may over-cool occupants directly in front of the unit and under-cool students farther away.
What’s the Risk of Heat?
New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) compiled nearly 1,000 personal testimonies from educators into a report titled “Overheated: Excessive Classroom Heat.” Written to advocate passage of the bill, the report describes students being sent home due to heat-related illnesses and teachers feeling dizzy and becoming sick. In an article published by the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, pediatrician Connie Kostacos, MD, explains, “Children feel heat and humidity faster and more severely than adults and have a harder time cooling down.” Kids have a higher ratio of surface area to mass, which means that they absorb heat three to five times faster than adults. The NYSUT report also cited studies demonstrating that excessive temperatures can negatively impact learning and test scores. Heat waves and extreme heat days have become more frequent, which can be dangerous for kids’ physical health and impact academic performances.
How Can Schools Solve the Problem?
If the Governor signs the bill, the 88ºF evacuation rule should give school districts cause for concern. Where do you put the students if their designated classroom is deemed unsafe? Some buildings already have existing spaces with cooling (such as auditoriums and cafeterias), but many already operate at capacity. The most straightforward way to solve the logistics problem is to install additional air conditioning in existing classroom and educational support spaces. There are several ways to do that.
Centralized heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are the most effective option. Centralized HVAC ties together a building’s heating and cooling infrastructure into a single system that increases efficiency and comfort. However, centralized systems tend to be more expensive and take longer to install. Centralized systems are often implemented when the existing systems are beyond their useful life and are due for replacement or when the school is pursuing electrification. In contrast, a decentralized system, such as in-window air conditioning units, is more cost effective in terms of construction costs, but less efficient in terms of performance. Window units can’t cool a space as effectively, have limited functionality, and have no built-in ventilation or MERV-rated filtration. Window units also need to be plugged into an outlet, which may limit placement and strain the building’s electrical capacity. Both centralized and decentralized systems may require electrical service upgrades in older schools.
A bill introduced into the State Senate this past July may help defray some of the infrastructure upgrade costs. If passed and signed, Senate Bill S9871 will establish a $500 million grant program for all K-12 schools to assist with the expenses associated with purchasing and installing air conditioning systems.
Regardless of what happens with either bill, the problem of excessive heat in classrooms and educational spaces remains. Many schools need infrastructure upgrades in order to meet the proposed legislation. Reach out to a design professional to help determine the best option for your school district.
