Proposed rules to protect California workers from extreme heat would extend to schoolchildren, requiring school districts to find ways to keep classrooms cool.
Jun 10 2024KFF Health News
The standards would require indoor workplaces to be cooled below 87 degrees Fahrenheit when employees are present and below 82 degrees in places where workers wear protective clothing or are exposed to radiant heat, such as furnaces. Schools and other worksites that don't have air conditioning could use fans, misters, and other methods to bring the room temperature down.
Scientists say this year could be even hotter. School officials in Vicksburg, Mississippi, last month ended the school year early when air conditioners had issues. And California's first heat wave of the season is hitting while some schools are still in session, with temperatures reaching 105 in the Central Valley.
A 2021 analysis by the Center for Climate Integrity suggests nearly 14,000 public schools across the U.S. that did not need air conditioning in 1970 now do, because they annually experience 32 days of temperatures more than 80 degrees — upgrades that would cost more than $40 billion. Researchers found that same comparison produces a cost of $2.4 billion to install air conditioning in 678 California schools.
Related StoriesProjections of a multibillion-dollar cost to state prisons were the reason the Newsom administration refused to sign off on the indoor heat rules this year. Since then, tens of thousands of prison and jail employees — and prisoners — have been exempted. Campaigns to cool schools in other states have yielded mixed results. Legislation in Colorado and New Hampshire failed this year, while a bill in New York passed on June 7 and was headed to the governor for approval. A New Jersey proposal was pending as of last week.
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