I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5401 
To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants for energy efficiency 
improvements and renewable energy improvements at public school facili-
ties, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 12, 2008 
Mr. LOEBSACK (for himself, Mr. HARE, Ms. HOOLEY, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. VAN 
HOLLEN, Mr. BOSWELL, and Mr. KAGEN) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants 
for energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy 
improvements at public school facilities, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grants for Renewable 
and Energy Efficiency Needs School Improvement Act’’ 
or the ‘‘GREEN School Improvement Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) According to a recent report entitled 
‘‘Greening America’s Schools: Costs and Benefits’’ 
buildings use a large amount of the Nation’s energy 
and electricity. Air pollution and greenhouse gas 
emissions from burning fossil fuels to heat and to 
generate electricity for these buildings can impose 
health, environmental, and property damage costs. 
Green schools use on average one-third less energy 
than conventional schools and could lead to large 
overall emissions reductions per school. 
(2) The same report indicates that out of 30 
schools reviewed, the average energy savings of a 
green school over a conventional school was 33 per-
cent and the water savings was 32 percent. The 
total financial savings from green schools are around 
$70 per square foot, with a $12 per square foot sav-
ings going directly to schools. 
(3) According to a 1996 GAO report, school of-
ficials estimated that to bring schools up to a ‘‘good 
overall condition’’, it would cost a total of 
$112,000,000,000, and $11,000,000,000 alone to 
comply with Federal mandates. 
(4) According to a report by the National Cen-
ter 
for 
Education 
Statistics 
report, 
$127,000,000,000 is needed to bring the three-quar-
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ters of current school buildings with need for re-
pairs, renovations and modernizations up to a ‘‘good 
overall condition’’. 
(5) According to the GAO, 14,000,000 students 
attend schools considered below standard or dan-
gerous and almost two-thirds of schools have build-
ing features such as air conditioning that are in 
need of extensive repair or replacement leading to 
the air being unfit to breathe in nearly 15 thousand 
schools. 
(6) A report by The Rural School and Commu-
nity Trust found that overall public school enroll-
ment in the United States increased by about 
602,000 students or 1 percent while enrollment in 
rural schools increased by over 1,339,000 or 15 per-
cent. The poorest rural populations are in the poor-
est states least able to afford the cost of an ade-
quate education. 
(7) A 2006 report by Building Educational 
Success Together found that the academically need-
iest students, minorities and impoverished students 
were most likely to attend the most decrepit facilities 
and that while unprecedented spending on facilities 
and growth was seen across the country, the least 
affluent school districts made the lowest investment. 
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(8) According to a recent report entitled 
‘‘Greening America’s Schools: Costs and Benefits’’ 
an examination of numerous States with green 
projects found a significant increase in employment 
and revenue in those States. In this same report, 
one State with green schools found a 5 percent re-
duction in teacher turnover. 
(9) In examining numerous schools, based on a 
substantial data set a 3–5 percent improvement in 
learning ability and test scores in green schools can 
be expected. 
(10) According to a report by the U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency entitled ‘‘Indoor Air Qual-
ity’’ in January 2003, students and faculty typically 
spend 85 to 90 percent of their time indoors and the 
concentration of pollutants indoors is typically high-
er than outdoors, sometimes by as much as 10 or 
even 100 times. 
(11) According to a study by the Carnegie Mel-
lon University Center for Building Performance in 
2005, 17 separate studies all found positive health 
impacts from improved indoor air-quality, ranging 
from 13.5 percent up to 87 percent improvements 
with average improvement of 41 percent. 
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(12) According to a recent report entitled 
‘‘Greening America’s Schools: Costs and Benefits’’, 
an analysis of numerous green schools showed that 
both teacher sick days and student absenteeism de-
creased by 12 to 15 percent in green schools. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this section: 
(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-
ty’’ means a consortium of— 
(A) one local educational agency; and 
(B) one or more— 
(i) schools; 
(ii) non-profit organizations; 
(iii) for-profit organizations; or 
(iv) community partners that have the 
knowledge and capacity to partner and as-
sist with energy improvements. 
(2) ENERGY IMPROVEMENTS.—The term ‘‘en-
ergy improvements’’ means— 
(A) any improvement, repair, or renova-
tion, to a school that will result in a direct re-
duction in school energy costs including but not 
limited to improvements to building envelope, 
air conditioning, ventilation, heating system, do-
mestic hot water heating, compressed air sys-
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