New Partnership with California State Architect Improves Review Process and Reduces CHPS Fees

The time is right for California school districts to take advantage of over a billion dollars in remaining state school bond funds coupled with about 70 million dollars in special state funding for high performance schools. Schools can cash in on new changes to state regulations, making Proposition 1D High Performance Incentive (HPI) Grants more substantial. School districts will also benefit from a new partnership between the Division of the State Architect (DSA) and the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS). Districts applying for HPI funding can pursue CHPS Verified recognition as part of a single documentation submittal, saving time and money through a streamlined review process and reduced review fees.

For more information, visit the HPI-CHPS Verified webpage.

“The new regulations and coordinated review process with CHPS will make it that much easier for school districts to build the ‘green’ classrooms that promote greater learning for our kids,” said Scott Harvey, Acting DGS Director. “Through the cooperation of DGS and CHPS and the reduction in duplicative review functions, school districts will benefit from additional incentives to incorporate high performance features in their facilities.”

School modernizations now qualify for a base incentive grant (BIG) of $250,000. New construction projects qualify for $150,000. These base grants are in addition to the score-based incentive funding, which awards two to eleven percent additional funding based on the HPI score.

“With this elevated level of funding, we are hoping to see at least 200 HPI-funded, CHPS Verified school projects over the next several years,” said Bill Orr, Executive Director of CHPS. “Districts that are eligible for HPI funding now have even more of an incentive to invest in high performance school solutions that will continue paying back over the life of the school.”

DSA and CHPS have also developed a joint scorecard, which allows for projects to apply for HPI funding and CHPS Verified recognition in one documentation package. DSA will complete the design review of projects applying for HPI funding, and CHPS and an independent, third-party reviewer will complete the construction review.

In addition, the regulations make more credits available to qualify for state funding, including two additional credits in water, eleven additional credits in energy, and three in Indoor Environmental Quality. Popular non-HPI credits found in the 2009 CA-CHPS Criteria, such as CHPS membership, integrated design, school gardens and HVAC interlocks, will be reviewed by DSA and are eligible expenses as part of the BIG but are not available for additional incentives. Projects that qualify for CHPS Verified status will receive a plaque recognizing their achievement.

The new regulations significantly increase funding levels for modernizations and new school projects. For example, under the old model of funding, a 41-point major modernization would have qualified for $66,650 in incentive funding; under the new model, it would qualify for $358,493, more than four times the original amount. Under the old funding regulations, a 41-point new school project would have qualified for $349,520; under the new regulations, it would qualify for $719,718 in incentive funding, or more than double the original amount.

Projects that will pursue CHPS Verified recognition and HPI funding should register their project with CHPS as early as possible (http://www.chps.net/dev/Drupal/node/257). CHPS will be able to provide support and guidance for early project decisions particularly for modernization projects prior to the DSA review.

The DSA-CHPS Joint Review Scorecard for new schools has also been amended to include new state green building code, CALGreen. CALGreen’s mandatory measures do not apply to major modernizations.

In most areas of California, the utilities’ Savings by Design program provides additional incentives to assist owners and design teams in creating high performance buildings. These incentives include an additional 10% certification incentive for whole building projects that register for a third-party certification program such as CHPS Verified. In many cases these additional incentives will more than cover the CHPS Verified project registration and review fees. For more information, go to the Savings by Design website.

For more information, visit the HPI-CHPS Verified webpage.