By Cristina Kumka STAFF WRITER - Published: May 27, 2009
The state's primary and secondary public schools could get a $14 million boost from a bill recently authorized by the U.S. House of Representatives, money that must be used to install renewable energy and heating systems, from biomass and wind to solar and geothermal.
In Rutland, the money could be used to install pricy solar panels on school roofs or put a wood pellet stove to work at Stafford Technical Center, according to the district.
Rep. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont who sponsored the bill — formally the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public Schools Act — said that despite state and national slumping economies, this funding for schools needs to be doled out as soon as possible.
"The sooner we retrofit our schools, the sooner we start saving taxpayer money, and the sooner we start putting people to work," Welch said. "This type of infrastructure we should be doing now."
The House authorized the bill by a margin of 275-155 during a May 14 vote.
The bill has yet to go through more hurdles in Congress, pass through the U.S. Senate and get signed by President Barack Obama, and there is no definitive timeline for when the multimillion-dollar check will land in Vermont, according to Welch.
The money that could come from the Welch-sponsored bill is not part of the stimulus plan, but school construction projects funded with unfettered aid from the federal government is the best type of stimulus, according to Rutland schools Chief Financial Officer Peter Amons.
Although the Rutland district recently received voter approval to move forward with a million-dollar, 15-year energy contract that will seal up windows and trim energy bills at no cost to taxpayers, the federal aid from Welch's bill could be used on more expensive, renewable-energy purchases not included in the new contract, like solar panels or a pellet heating system.
Solar panels were not included in the district's own energy equation because of the expense, but federal aid could turn that around.
"It takes 30 years of the lower energy cost to pay back the initial cost of (purchasing) those solar panels," Amons said. "These (renewable energy) improvements were just stripped right out of the stimulus but this (Welch's proposed bill) has an economic stimulus effect to."
Vermont's allocation is a fraction of the bill's $6.4 billion total funding for school modernization, renovation and repairs nationwide in fiscal year 2010.
According to the state Department of Education, the need by Vermont schools for renewable energy projects remains and if passed, the bill could make up for money not included in the federal stimulus plan.
A January 2009 survey by the department showed 58 of Vermont's more than 200 public schools had $54 million worth of unfunded projects in the pipeline — from new doors, windows and insulation to major conversions from fossil fuel heating systems to wood chip stoves, according to Norman Etkind, director of the Vermont Superintendents Association school energy management program.
Some Vermont schools have already used capital funding, offset by limited state grants, to convert heating systems into wood chip and wood pellet burners, Welch said.
"Our schools need to be modernized," he said. "They are very expensive facilities to heat and this will help our public schools and taxpayers lower the heating bill."
Welch worked with representatives Carol Shea-Porter, Michael Arcuri and Paul Hodes on the bill.