Cooler schools - With heating costs up, school thermostats are down

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — With winter’s approach there’s a chill in the air — and not just outside. With heating costs threatening to break district budgets, schools around New York and other cold-weather locales are lowering thermostats as part of aggressive energy-saving strategies. “I am suggesting you make sure your child keeps a sweat-jacket or sweater at school to wear to keep the chill away if needed,” one upstate superintendent wrote to parents. A recent survey of New York school districts found that 82 percent of respondents expect to exceed their heating budgets this year, by an average of $135,646. Western New York districts will be hardest hit with an average shortfall of $237,000. Together, New York districts will come up about $96 million short, according to the survey by the New York State Association of School Business Officials and the state Association for Superintendents of School Buildings and Grounds. “Energy has become the No. 1 issue throughout school districts in New York state,” said Stanley Polmateer, SBGA chairman of professional practice and senior director of school facilities in the Rochester suburb of Rush Henrietta. Schools across Wisconsin, Minnesota and throughout New England report similar hardships. Already, soaring gasoline prices have led some districts to scale back bus runs and reduce idling time. Microwaves, refrigerators and coffee pots have been unplugged to lower utility bills. Now, the Energy Department predicts winter heating bills will be a third to a half higher than last year across the country. The rising prices are blamed in part on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which damaged oil and natural gas installations and disrupted production. But the price of oil had already climbed to record levels before the storms. “We got caught in the spike in energy,” said Neil Sanders, an assistant superintendent for Guilderland schools near Albany. The 5,600-student district expects to exceed the heating budget for its 10 buildings by about $250,000. The Guilderland district started working with an energy consultant in the spring, Sanders said, and has been paying more attention to shutting off lights and computers. Now thermostats are set at 68 during the day, instead of 70, and lower still at night. “We still want to ensure a comfortable learning environment while trying to conserve,” he said. The change prompted Superintendent Gregory Aidala to advise parents in a district newsletter to have kids keep a sweater handy. Energy Education Inc. has been advising school districts on conservation measures for nearly 20 years, teaching how to best utilize resources while promoting commonsense measures like turning off computer monitors, printers and copiers at the end of the day. “It seems almost every year there are increases in some form of utility,” said John Bernard, chief operating officer of the Wichita Falls, Texas, consulting firm. “We’re seeing with predictions of up to 50 percent increases in heating or natural gas, people are now saying, ‘We’ve got to do something.”’ According to the NYSASBO survey, 68 percent of school districts will lower the temperature of school buildings both during occupied and unoccupied hours. About one-third of districts plan to reduce the use of school buildings by non-school groups like the Girl Scouts, and to eliminate some after-school activities while consolidating athletic practices and other activities. About half the districts plan to tap into their budget surpluses to cover the rising costs, but many districts said their surpluses won’t cover the gap and will resort to cutting positions, delaying supply purchases and curtailing staff travel, according to the findings. U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., in response to the survey, accused the Bush administration of failing to promote policies that will stabilize energy prices. “As our schools are making grave decisions about how to cut spending, the oil companies are making out like bandits,” Engel said.