Prop 39 = California Clean Energy Jobs Act

Wilsona Implementing Prop 39 Energy Requirements Lake Los Angeles – Wilsona School District is seriously in to the implementation of Prop 39 terms and conditions. The California Clean Energy Jobs Act allocates revenue to local education agencies to support energy efficiency and alternative energy projects, along with related improvements and repairs that contribute to reduced operating costs and improved health and safety conditions in public schools. Every “client” that was to receive funding was compelled to follow the same Funding Pathway. Step 1 the electrical and natural gas usage billing data for 12 months needed to be provided prior to installation. Step 2 was then to benchmark facilities. Step 3 was to determine energy project priorities that agree with the spirit of Prop 39. Step 4 was sequencing of facility improvements with the Energy Commission recommendation. Steps 5 and 6 were the energy survey and project identification using the energy savings calculation tool. Step 7 was to complete and submit an energy expenditure plan to be reviewed and approved. Step 8 is the all-important tracking and reporting of 12 months of site energy usage after project installation is completed, again using the Energy Commission calculator.

This is a long-term mission starting in the school year 2013-2014 with the Award Allocation of $120,987 which was dedicated to the preliminary planning, interviewing contractors, seeking out areas of improvement and setting goals for advancements in significantly reducing energy consumption and expense in the District. Part of the planning will include reports on the savings to be realized as required by the statute. The money is allocated on average daily attendance (ADA) numbers.

Wilsona School District Superintendent Theresa Grey explained, “Because of our receiving funding, none of the District’s dollars has been spent on any part of the energy design and strategy and hands-on work ... only the Energy Expenditure Plan (EEP) amount has been spent. The dollars allocated are strictly for the purpose of reducing energy consumption. “During the discovery portion of this mission we found hidden issues and problems which we felt were extremely beneficial to the District to uncover during this period. It was really great timing. For instance, among other things, we found we needed to upgrade the District's heating, ventilating and cooling (HVAC) systems to comply with the complicated requirements of Prop 39.”

During the school year 2014-2015 the Award Allocation was $114,629. This year was the year for up-front planning. The third year will be front loading the rest of the costs to be reimbursed by the State under Prop 39. The incremental payments will continue through the 2015-2016 school year. The total allotted to Wilsona School District is $598,566 which includes all of the planning and implementing. No money will come out of the budget of the District for any portion of this operation.

Many changes have been planned and implemented to date. One of the exceedingly beneficial implementations was all of the fluorescent lighting has been changed to efficient fluorescents that not only consume far less energy but also have a much longer life expectancy. All of the thermostats have been changed to smart stats that control the air conditioning and heating that makes sense during school hours and when school is not in session during the summer months, weekends and after hours. It is also designed to adjust the temperature at a level that would prevent pipes from freezing and bursting and turn air conditioners off when no one is present to keep them from icing over. The staff will be able to adjust the thermostats when they are present even on the weekends. They may turn off on non-student days after an hour, but they can continue to be turned back on until the employee leaves.

Mrs. Grey also spoke about the energy consumption connected to technology which is being greatly improved. “There are 28-32 computers on a classroom cart that get charged overnight. Every student has a computer. Time-out software has been installed on the computers which would automatically allow the powering down of the computers so no electricity is being used once the computers are fully charged.” This will be a significant step toward lowering electrical consumption.

For more information on Prop 39 go to http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/cc/prop39 cceja.asp