The state's top educator wants every school in California to be like Aragon High -- powered by solar.
During a visit Monday to Aragon, where solar panels were recently installed, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson unveiled a report detailing how California could achieve this vision.
The 90-page report by the Schools of the Future team, which Torlakson formed earlier this year, recommends that California streamline its school-building regulations and change state law to encourage campuses to install renewable-energy systems, among other measures. Torlakson is also urging legislators to put a statewide school-bond measure of $3 billion to $5 billion on the November 2012 ballot to help fund campus energy-efficiency projects.
"We believe that all students deserve to have buildings -- school environments -- that are 21st century, not relics of the past, " said Torlakson, addressing the Aragon student body in the campus courtyard on a sunny morning.
Torlakson's visit was part of a ceremony dedicating the San Mateo Union High School District's 3.7-megawatt solar-power system, which includes 17,000 panels at Aragon and other campuses. The $24 million system is expected to save the district $1.2 million in annual energy costs over 30 years.
The program at Aragon is something other schools will want to replicate, Torlakson said. The Schools of the Future report provides a road map in that regard that "will save billions of dollars across the state of California in the years to come," he said.
The report urges the state to examine regulations to ensure that they are streamlined and not acting as barriers to the planning of safe, sustainable schools. The report also calls for legislation that helps schools pursue clean-energy initiatives. To that end, Torlakson is sponsoring a bill that would lift the cap on the size of school solar projects and allow districts to aggregate renewable energy generated at one campus -- or at an off-site solar farm -- to offset costs at other campuses.
San Mateo Union board President Stephen Rogers, who served as co-chair of the Schools of the Future group, said the report's recommendations "emphasize creating 21st century learning facilities and creating jobs in our state."
The possible 2012 state bond as well as local bond measures would give districts seed money to do the kind of things that have been done at Aragon, Torlakson said. However, the report notes that a state bond next year may be difficult to pull off in light of California's continuing economic challenges.
"Given the ongoing state budget problems, it is unclear if voters would have the appetite for another bond," the report says.
The report recommends that other financing alternatives be investigated such as developing a state infrastructure bank and giving districts "increased bonding capacity."
Aragon senior Ivan Wang, 17, said he is pleased his school is already at the forefront of energy conservation.
"It's really nice that Aragon is being environmentally friendly," the teen said. "If all the schools follow our example, we can make the world a better place."
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