In Illinois, the Chicago Teachers Union won a contract with city schools to install solar panels on some buildings and create clean energy career opportunities for students, among other actions. In Minnesota, the Minneapolis Federation of Educators demanded that the district create a task force on environmental issues and provide free subway passes to students. And in California, demands from the Los Angeles teachers union include electrifying the district's bus fleet and installing electric vehicle charging stations in all schools.
These are some of the examples in new report on how unionized teachers are pushing their school districts to take action on the climate crisis, which is damaging school buildings and disrupting learning. The report, produced by the Building Power Resource Center, a nonprofit that supports local governments and leaders, and the Labor Network for Sustainability, a nonprofit seeking to bring together labor and climate groups, describes how educators can raise demands for climate action when they negotiate labor contracts with their districts. By emphasizing the financial viability of switching to renewable energy, educators can simultaneously combat climate change, improve school conditions and save districts money, the report says.
As federal support and financial incentives for climate action fadethis kind of local action is becoming more difficult but also more urgent, advocates say. Chicago Public Schools relied on funding for electric buses that was cut off by the Trump administration, said Jackson Potter, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union. But the district is also seeking other local and state funding and nonprofit support.
Bradley Mariannno, an assistant professor at the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said teachers unions taking action on climate change are part of a movement started about 15 years ago in which more progressive unions, such as those in Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere, focus on “collective good bargaining,” or advocating for changes that benefit not only their members but the broader community. But the approach is unlikely to catch on everywhere: “The risk is that members feel that core issues such as wages and working conditions are being ignored in favor of broader goals,” he wrote in an email.
I recently spoke with Potter, vice president of the CTU, about the report and his union's approach to climate change negotiations. Working with local environmental and community groups, the Chicago Teachers Union was ultimately successful in securing a contract that would, among other things, identify schools that would use solar panels and electrification, expand indoor air quality monitoring, help educators integrate climate change issues into their curriculum, and provide training for students in clean energy careers.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Question. The report says contract negotiations are an underutilized and effective lever for demanding action on climate change. Why do you see this process as an opportunity to combat climate change?
Locally, our schools are on average 84-83 years old. Lead paint, lead pipes, mold, asbestos, printed circuit boardsall kinds of contamination in the ventilation and air conditioning system and walls that require modernization. We estimate the area needs $30 billion in improvements, and right now I think they're spending $500 million a year on renovations alone. We are at the point where it will be a system failure of epic proportions if we can't find a way to transition and make things healthier. So, if you're going to renovate your roof, put solar on it, have fossil fuel independence, clean up the air in areas that have experienced environmental racism and pollution.
We are also dealing with a legacy of discrimination and harm, and this is true across the country. So how do we get out of this situation, while also saving the planet and preventing larger climate events that further destabilize vulnerable communities and put people at risk? It made sense for us to use our contract as a way to do both things—to address this local crisis that required new solutions and ideas at a time when the climate was literally on fire.
TO. How difficult was it to convince educators to consider climate issues a priority? There are so many other issues on the table regarding salaries and other issues.
When we started, it seemed like members of the community, members of the community, saw this as a niche problem. Like, “Oh, isn’t it sweet that you care about green technology.” Once we figured out how to think about it and talk about it and figure out where people were having problems in schools, it became really obvious that when you started talking about asbestos and lead and mold remediation—and helping the communities that have been hit the hardest by cumulative exposure and carcinogens and how those things are present in schools—it became much more tangible. Or even quality food, lunch and breakfast for low-income students. He instantly moved from the bottom of the list to the top.
TO. Your contract includes a range of actions related to climate change, including green pathways for students and unionization agreements to create good jobs for students. Tell me about it.
We are trying to use the transformation of our institutions as another opportunity for families and students in the communities hit hardest to benefit most from the transformation. So if we can install solar power, we want our students to be involved in this project in their schools, gaining skills and apprenticeship certificates to become the electricians of the future. And use it as a project employment agreement [which establishes the terms of work on a certain project] with deals to open doors and opportunities. The same goes for all other improvements – be it heat pumps, HVAC systems, or geothermal energy. When it comes to electric vehicles, we have outdated auto repair programs that rely solely on fossil fuel combustion engines, whereas [the nearby city of] In Belvidere they are building electric vehicles under a new United Auto Workers contract. Can we have a career in electric vehicles that allows students to gain mechanical knowledge and understanding and prepares them to work with the vehicles of the future?
TO. The report highlights the Batesville School District in Arkansas, which was able to increase teacher salaries thanks to solar energy savings. Have you tried to get teachers' salaries raised because of these climate measures?
The $500 million our county spends annually on facility improvements comes from the general fund, so we haven't thought about it at all from a salary standpoint. We thought about it in terms of having a school nurse, a social worker, a mental health intervention at a time when there is so much trauma. We see this as a win-win: the fewer dollars the district has to spend on educational needs, the more dollars it can spend on the academic and social-emotional needs of students. As for the Arkansas model, it is quite simple. If you divest from fossil fuel pipelines and power lines and become self-sufficient, essentially generating your own electricity and heat, that will be a good thing, especially if there are upfront subsidies.
Mathematics and climate change
When classroom temperatures rise, students find it harder to concentrate and their performance declines—particularly in math. This is according to new report from NWEAeducational research and testing company.
Report, part growing body evidence that extreme heat is harmful to student performance, found that math scores dropped when outside temperatures on test days rose above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Students in high-poverty schools, which are less likely to have air conditioning, saw enrollment declines twice as large as those in wealthier schools.
Learning losses increased as temperatures rose. Students tested on 101-degree days scored about 0.06 standard deviations below those tested on 60-degree days, equivalent to about 10 percent of the learning a fifth grader would typically gain in a school year.
It is not entirely clear why students' performance in math suffers more than in reading as temperatures rise. But Sophia Postell, a research analyst at NWEA, said math tests require students to solve problems and rely on their memory, and that thinking is especially difficult when students are hot and tired. Anxiety may also be a factor, she wrote in an email: “Research has also shown that heat increases anxiety, and some students may feel more anxious before math exams.”
The study was based on data from approximately 3 million scores on NWEA's proprietary MAP Growth test for third- through eighth-grade students in six states.
The report calls on school, district and state officials to take several steps to reduce the impact of extreme heat on student learning and testing. Ideally, tests should be scheduled at times of year when it's not as hot, he says, and in the mornings when temperatures are cooler. Leaders also need to invest in upgrading HVAC systems to keep kids cool.
“Severe heat has already negatively impacted student learning, and without action, these impacts will only worsen,” Postell wrote.
