All-electric schools are clean, resilient, and healthy. By upgrading to all-electric HVAC systems, kitchens, school buses, and solar panels, your school could benefit from lower operating costs, withstand extreme weather and emergencies, and improve air quality.

But how can you get started? We’ve got you covered. Whether you’re a student, teacher, caregiver, or community member, read on and get schooled!

Step 1: Educate yourself on your options

Anyone in your school board district can start or join a campaign to get the board to pass a resolution to #ElectrifyEverything — including you!

You don’t have to reinvent the process from scratch — just follow in the footsteps of those who have already done it. Here are some courses and documents to help you get started:

• (Video) How to get your school board to go electric

• Examples of carbon neutral school district resolutions

• Roundup of U.S. schools that have adopted solar

• The great school electrification challenge

Step 2: Reach out to your school board members

You can contact your school board members via email or phone and request to add your resolution to their upcoming meeting agenda. It may take time, and you will need to be persistent, but the effort will be worth it. 

• Check out this toolkit from public school students in Denver, who spent more than a year putting together a successful campaign.

• Or listen to this group of students from Salt Lake City, who spent years working with their school district to create, adopt, and implement a sustainability plan.

Step 3: Build a group of supporters for your proposal, and be ready to speak up at the school board meeting.

Your school board may agree to put the resolution on the agenda, or they may not. Either way, you can bring it up during an upcoming meeting’s comment period.

• Get prepared by spending time building a message that aligns with your school and your community’s values — from focusing on reducing costs by using more efficient devices, to building resiliency against extreme weather or emergencies. Check out these documents for some more messaging ideas:

• Student petition to Denver public schools board of education

Step 4: Plan, audit, and implement

Once the resolution is adopted, thank your school board and publicize your success. Now it’s time for the district to make a plan — by auditing what equipment currently exists in the schools, what needs to change, and how they'll pay for it.

There are many national and local funding initiatives that could help support your school’s budgetary lift. While that may change over time, check out these resources from Undaunted K-12 and the Aspen Institute for info on available funding for everything from electric school buses and charging stations to upgrades to school buildings. 

Just remember, the path to electrifying your school might be a winding one. But if you build a strong group of advocates to help you get the work done — parents, teachers, community members, and lots of student allies — together, you will make it fun and satisfying. And future generations will thank you for their temperate, heat-pump cooled, sustainable classroom.