Depaving California Schools for a Greener Future

Public schools are key institutions for climate resilience investments in California, including schoolyard tree planting efforts to mitigate extreme heat. However, past and current policies and other factors have created and reinforced the expansive amounts of impervious surfaces in K–12 public schools -- a major barrier to greening projects. Such policies and factors include 1) land use planning in schools being heavily driven by concerns about student overcrowding and meeting playground space standards; 2) a focus on creating durable all-weather play areas; 3) physical education (PE) curricula that encourage activities that require hard surfaces; 4) inconsistent and insufficient state school funding limiting resources available for maintain landscaping in schools; 5) onerous approvals processes for school infrastructure improvements that involve depaving; and 6) administrative barriers to accessing and securing funding opportunities for schoolyard greening.The following recommendations may support school depaving efforts: 1) revise PE standards to accommodate more free and unorganized play in schools; 2) encourage the California Department of Education to issue guidance for school districts to accommodate green space development in site planning; 3) encourage the state to increase the amount of funding allocated to the School Facilities Program; 4) encourage state and localities to integrate school districts in stormwater programs; 5) encourage climate and sustainability funding program administrators to develop clear guidelines for school project proposals; and 6) educate policymakers about the value of schools as ideal demonstration sites for green infrastructure projects.