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The Green New Deal for Schools is a landmark proposal to equip our public schools for the impending climate crisis. The resolution was originally introduced by Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Sen. Ed Markey in September 2023 and has been championed by the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led nationwide initiative for climate justice. The bill focuses on funding public schools over the next decade to increase sustainability and effectively prepare for our future, prioritizing Black, brown, and working-class communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis. This legislation would create 1.3 million well-paying jobs annually and reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 78 million metric tons each year! The resolution focuses on five main demands, as seen below. It would also represent one of the largest federal investments ever in racial equity in education. Learn more about the Green New Deal for Public Schools Act here.
★ Safe and green infrastructure: School structures, buses, and other educational facilities are modernized to operate solely on renewable energy, prioritize climate resilience, and guarantee safe, toxin-free learning environments.
★ Free and healthy lunches: All lunches should be free of cost and locally sourced, keeping in mind the health and sustainibility of the meals - no student should ever have to go hungry throughout the day.
★ Pathways to green jobs: With the climate crisis impending, it is imperative that we have a strong sustainable workforce and schools should provide opportunities to students to explore meaningful and well-paying environmental union jobs in school.
★ Climate disaster plans: Every school should be fully equipped to handle natural disasters and recovery from environment based crisises.
★ Climate curriculum: All students should be taught about climate change in depth from a young age and across all disciplines. A comprehensive curriculum should be developed by experts and students, ensuring a full understanding of our history and future.
EQUITY
EQUITY
ENVIRONMENTAL
Focuses on investments in school resources and curriculums to address (and improve) systemic environmental and health inequities.
Provides safer and healthier school facilities to improve school and community level health outcomes
Buildings that teach and climate curriculum
Building retrofits that finally end fossil fuel use
Building maintenance and care
EDUCATIONAL
Strong partnerships with parents, families, and communities
Community design of schools with continued democratic participation
Stability and growth of the educator labor force and school support staff
Prioritization of hiring from the local community
ECONOMIC
Offers direct grants to districts for infrastructure updates to tackle educational disparities
Investments in human resources to counter years of neglect in high-need districts
Emphasizes partnerships with parents and communities, community involvement in school design, educator workforce stability, and hiring prioritization from local communities.
RACIAL
Addresses harm in low-resource communities to help alleviate health and environmental inequities
Prioritizes schools with the highest need, increasing discretionary funds, and providing new federal funding (all crucial steps)
Increases capacity in state and local education departments
Though we have been a prominent leader of the GND4S, we are not the only ones. We were actually the second hub to pass our resolution, (after Boulder, Colorado). All around the nation, Sunrise Movement members are working hard for a nationwide Green New Deal for Schools. Here are some photos from the initiative in general, and there is plenty of info online on other campaigns! We stand together.
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