Learn more about The Green Schools for Southern California Initiative >>

A green school, also known as a high performance school, is a community facility that is designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological and resource-efficient manner. Green schools protect occupant health, provide a productive learning environment, connect students to the natural world, increase average daily attendance, reduce operating costs, improve teacher satisfaction and retention, and reduce overall impact to the environment.

The Need for Green Schools: Schools districts in Southern California are embarking on a major wave of facility construction, planning to build approximately 200 new schools in the next several years. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) alone has plans to construct 150 new schools. How these schools are built will have a tremendous impact on student performance, teacher and staff working environment, district operating and maintenance costs, and the region’s environmental quality for decades to come.

Green schools lessen the impact of building construction on the environment and set an example for future generations that environmental quality is essential to our long-term well being. They also have benefits in several key performance areas:

• Protect Student and Teacher Health – Schools designed with attention to proper ventilation, material selection, acoustical quality and other indoor environmental factors, can expect improved student and teacher health and higher attendance;
• Better Student Performance – Attention to site planning and adequate daylighting has been shown to heighten student performance by as much as 25%;
• Lower Operating Costs – Operating costs for energy and water can be reduced by 20% to 40%, allowing more money to be used for teacher salaries, textbooks and computers;
• Provide a Unique Educational Opportunity – When advanced technology and design in new schools are made visible, buildings can become teaching tools and important features of science, math, and environmental curriculum.

Learn more about The Green Schools for Southern California Initiative >>

Get involved! To download a letter to send to school officials urging them to make your school a green school, click here.

Green Schools
Fact Sheets

Environment
Academic Performance
Health
Cost Effectiveness

Green Schools Report

Healthier, Wealthier, and Wiser: Global Green USA's Green Schools Report Endorsing High Performance, Environmentally Sustainable Buildings for Education Facilities.