New Minor Renovations Program to bring industry-backed upgrade solutions to America’s schools

Coalition aims to demonstrate and scale effective high-performance improvements grounded in student outcomes

PRESS RELEASE — August 10, 2023 — Los Angeles, California — Today, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) announced the launch of the CHPS Minor Renovations Program alongside the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (CFISD) which have committed to participate in the program’s development, and with the support of CHPS’ government partner Sourcewell. This will offer a new way for districts to address their most pressing facility improvement needs by helping them apply best practices that improve building performance, cut energy costs, and promote student health, wellness, and achievement.

It’s estimated that 53% of America’s public schools need to invest in repairs, renovations, and modernizations, yet upgrades are not getting done at the rate or scale needed to provide safe and productive learning environments for students. Although smaller renovation projects represent the majority of districts’ facility expenditures, a set of industry-aligned best practices does not exist to enable effective planning and implementation.

“Approximately 70% of the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD’s 2019 Bond Program is earmarked for renovation and modernization programs,” said Roy Sprague, former Chief Operations Officer for Cypress-Fairbanks ISD. “Having an independent, industry-backed set of standards to help create and promote healthy, high performance learning spaces can help validate the need and benefits for the district’s critical facility improvements with the community and will serve as a model for other school districts to follow as they seek to implement school modernization programs.”

The Minor Renovations Program will start to address this critical gap by convening a coalition of interdisciplinary experts to:

• Develop best practices that will underpin criteria designed to help districts upgrade, renovate, or modernize underperforming and outdated systems including HVAC, lighting, and flooring. 
  

• Pilot these improvements at facilities to assess and demonstrate their effectiveness in improving air quality, thermal comfort, lighting, and acoustics for students and staff — developing a powerful and scalable proof of concept.
  

• Demonstrate that any allocated funding for districts — including bond measures and/or state, utility, and federal funding sources can be more effectively utilized to meet high performance renovation practices.
  

• Create and grow a community of support dedicated to building on the criteria, assisting schools, and sharing best practices and successes.

 “Los Angeles Unified stays committed to developing ecologically-sustainable infrastructure upgrades for our schools, which is why we require CHPS for new construction and major modernization projects,” Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said. “Expanding the program to include smaller renovation projects is a natural trajectory that will help further efforts to reflect high performance standards in our school buildings and infrastructure.”

CHPS’ goal is to scale this project far beyond initial projects, completing renovations at schools across the country according to interdisciplinary best practices that hold contractors accountable to the communities they serve while also ensuring all students have access to better indoor environments. 

“For 20 years, CHPS has developed and maintained the nation’s only third-party building standard explicitly designed and exclusively for K-12 schools grounded in student performance. Today, we are evolving to meet the growing needs of schools and the students and communities they serve, and this program is an important pillar of our new vision to make better school design the rule — not the exception,” said Craig Schiller, CHPS Executive Director.

“Sourcewell understands the correlation between creating healthier and even more sustainable learning environments and positive impacts to student well-being and academic performance. It’s important to support organizations like CHPS who are investing in building upon research and initiatives to reduce environmental impact and energy consumption, leading to long-term cost savings for schools and communities,” said Liz Sourdiff, Manager of Client Development at Sourcewell.  

 The success of the Minor Renovation Program relies on collaboration and perspectives of diverse industry stakeholders. CHPS is seeking leading building scientists, health and safety representatives, leading manufacturers, consultants, service providers, architects, engineers, educators, utilities, and school districts personnel to join the program, serving a variety of roles. To learn more, visit chps.net or contact CHPS by email.

ABOUT THE COLLABORATIVE FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE SCHOOLS (CHPS)
CHPS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering industry collaboration amongst diverse experts to deliver better buildings for better students. Their mission is to improve student physical health, academic performance, mental well-being, and environmental stewardship by creating the best high-performance school environment. Founded in 1999, the organization maintains the first and only building performance standard developed to meet the unique needs of PK-12 school districts centered on student outcomes. Today, CHPS criteria is used by more than 70 school districts and has influenced over 750 projects nationwide. Learn more at chps.net.