rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/petition/we-need-safe-green-schools?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-petition-area-we-need-safe-green-schools' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Safe Green Schools https://actionnetwork.org/groups/climate-2 https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/petitions/photos/000/545/334/normal/Untitled_design_(7).jpg Imagine schools that run on green energy. Imagine classrooms that are a comfortable temperature year round with clean filtered air where teachers can teach and kids can learn. Imagine full electrification of all district buildings with no fossil fuels. This is the clean energy future. And it’s within our grasp. We can have school facilities that help ensure our air is clean and our city is healthy. We can have comfortable classrooms; facilities that make Columbus a greener place – the choice is ours to make for a clean energy future. This is a historic moment when we have access to billions of dollars from the Federal Government’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a law designed to ensure that the United States leads the transition to a green energy future. Across the country, the IRA is helping to lower energy costs, increase climate resiliency, and provide good-paying green energy jobs. To that end, the Columbus School Board needs to make sure that Columbus is getting its fair share of IRA funding and does not get left behind. It’s critical that the School Board act as good stewards of the district’s money and takes advantage of all the resources available to us. We recently passed a levy for additional school funding that comes out of our own pockets and Superintendent Chapman wants to close and consolidate schools to save money. And yet, Columbus City Schools is leaving billions of limited-time Inflation Reduction Act federal funds on the table for green energy, cleaner air, and safer, more resilient schools. Other districts are taking this money to make their schools greener and saving millions of dollars in the process. One district in Arkansas went solar and saved so much money that they were able to give raises to all their teachers. Columbus could do the same. Columbus has always been a yes-we-can kind of place; we’re already leading the way with innovations from the tech and chip manufacturing boom, to the arts scene and our world-renowned university. The next big thing is clean energy - to power our schools, save the district money, and liberate us from outdated fossil fuels that pollute our environment and accelerate climate change. Columbus can and must continue to lead the way – with schools that are modernized, safer, and less expensive to operate. We need the School Board to be leaders who make this a reality. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/we-need-safe-green-schools