Core Question:

• Which school districts across California have made investments in green schoolyard elements such as school gardens and schoolyard forests, and/or which districts have made investments in utilizing schoolyard greening for educational purposes?

Additional Questions: 

• Which districts are utilizing their gardens for garden based or food systems education?

• Which districts have hired staff to coordinate garden and/or garden-based education programs?

• Are there any patterns emerging for who has implemented gardens and garden-based education programs in terms of scale or equity?

• Are there schoolyard forests in areas where there is high heat now or projected in the future?

Findings: 

1. Approximately 50% of school districts (475 districts) in the state show evidence of having school gardens at at least one school in their district.

2. 322 districts (~34% of all districts) show evidence of some form of school garden activities:

• ~30% of the districts in CA (281 districts) show evidence of garden based education.

• ~14% of the districts in CA (133 districts) of districts show evidence of food systems education. 

• ~9.8% of the districts in CA (92 districts) have evidence of both garden based and food systems education. 

3. Because 50% show evidence of a school garden and 34% show evidence of garden based education activities, we can assume around  16% of districts with gardens are either not utilizing their gardens for education or are not communicating those programs to the public. 

4. 90 districts (only around 10% of all districts) have a dedicated garden coordinator at either the district or site level (note this is about 20% of the 322 districts who have school gardens). It is important to note that garden coordinator positions are sometimes held by parent or teacher volunteers and may not be listed as a staff position. 

5. 50 districts (around 5% of all districts) have evidence of schoolyard forests. Note, that while this initiative did collect published evidence of schoolyard forests, more detailed data can be found as part of the California Schoolyard Tree Canopy Equity Study by Green Schoolyards America.

In the visualization below, you can see the data broken down by CA County Superintendent (CCS - formerly CCESSA) Region (see the map below for details). The filter to the right of the pie chart allows the following indicators to be selected:

• School Gardens: Presence of a garden on at least one school site 

• Garden Based Education: Evidence of garden based education in at least one school

• Food Systems Education: Evidence of food systems education (for example agriculture programs, nutrition programs including where food comes from, etc.) in at least one school 

• Garden Coordinator: At least one staff member with a job title/description related to coordinating garden programs, not landscape maintenance

• Schoolyard Forest: Evidence of a schoolyard forest (such as multiple trees planted as shade in an area that students can access) on at least one school site 

Changing the filter will change the pie chart to show the total number of districts with evidence of that indicator within the region.  Hovering over each section of the pie chart will show more details about the region such as the total number of districts, average pollution burden percentile, and average % unduplicated students. 

Findings: 

1. There is a fairly even distribution of districts with evidence of school gardens across the state, with a smaller total number in regions 6 and 10. This may be due, in part, to the climate and water availability in those regions. 

   • When comparing the total number of districts in each region to the districts with gardens, there is somewhat more variation, with Region 10 at ~37.5% and Region 4 at ~67%

2. There are fewer districts with evidence of garden based education, with a range of 55 districts in Region 6 and 118 in Region 7. 

   • Although Region 7 has the largest number of districts with evidence of garden based education, when comparing against the total number of districts in the region, Region 4 has the highest percentage ( 46.59%) and Region 11 has the lowest percentage (18.99%).

   • There are even fewer districts with food systems education, with a range of ~8% to ~22% depending on region; however, it can be difficult to distinguish between garden education and food systems education unless the district has an agriculture program. Because of this, these numbers may be higher.

3. The variation between regions is more pronounced for evidence of garden coordinators. While there are 79 districts in Region 11 with garden coordinators, this only represents ~4% of the districts in that region. On the other hand, Region 1 has 90 districts with garden coordinators, representing ~18% of their districts. Overall, we see far fewer districts with evidence of garden coordinators than districts with evidence of gardens. 

4. While this initiative did collect published evidence of schoolyard forests, more detailed data can be found as part of the California Schoolyard Tree Canopy Equity Study by Green Schoolyards America.

Findings: 

• From the map, it's evident that California has reached a tipping point, with approximately half of the state's districts showing evidence of school gardens on at least one site. These districts are spread across California, though disparities remain apparent. Specifically, counties bordering southern Nevada, such as Mono, Inyo, and San Bernardino, show a concentration where evidence of school gardens is notably lacking. However, there is still significant work needed to ensure that every district and every school in California has access to school gardens. This effort is crucial not only to provide educational opportunities but also to protect and shield these green spaces from the impacts of climate change.

Findings: 

1. The counites with less than average pollution burden tend to be smaller, indicating that the population density in the larger counties may be contributing to the pollution burden in those areas. 

2. The upper right quadrant represents our students with the greatest need (above average pollution burden and above average % unduplicated. 18 counties fall within this quadrant and the majority of the counties (~66%) have evidence of school gardens in 50% or fewer of their districts. 

3. These results indicate that more support could be needed to bring school gardens to the counties with high need in order to provide better learning environments for our historically marginalized students while helping to reduce pollution burden by increasing the green space on campus.