In 2019, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) surveyed public school districts across the United States and found that an estimated 36,000 schools needed HVAC updates. Most districts did not have the funds to make drastic updates to their HVAC systems before the pandemic, but with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding and President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill, school districts have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make significant updates.

In April, FutureEd, an independent think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, issued an analysis detailing the way public school districts were spending COVID relief aid. The report indicates districts intend to devote nearly $10 billion from the latest round of funding to ventilation and air filtration in coming years, budgeting about $400 a student.

In Washington, Sheet Metal Workers Local 66 has been working hard to ensure any updates made by school districts are done by the skilled, trained and certified technicians they represent.

“We currently have contracts in 17 school districts to perform ventilation verification assessments and repairs, if necessary,” said Kevin Thomas, Local 66 business agent. “That is 269 different campuses.”

In Seattle, the local has a signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) that guarantees the “district will support needed certification for existing employees to do regular HVAC systems testing to improve working/learning conditions.”

The MOU also includes language stating the district will “comply with, meet, and may exceed American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Department of Labor and Industries, Washington Administrative Code (WAC), and Department of Health and Human Services requirements to ensure proper fresh air supply, filtration and circulation.”

Since 2019, Local 66 has been working with allied organizations to educate the community and lobby for legislative action. Now, with new funding streams in place and increased interest in improving ventilation and indoor air quality, Local 66 leadership has been working to assist school districts in obtaining additional funding through federal grants.

“We’ve tried hard to eliminate hurdles these school districts may face when applying for federal grant funds,” Thomas said. “Our signatory contractors, in conjunction with the local, have a plan in place to assist as many of our school districts as we can get adequate funding to complete the work. It is a win-win for the students, teachers, community and our members.”

Thomas said the relationships Local 66 has built with nonprofit organizations like the Sound Alliance and local teachers’ unions have helped forge new partnerships with local legislatures. Such cooperation has proven vital in the effort to educate lawmakers on indoor air quality and draw attention to the need for ventilation verification assessments to be performed by certified technicians.