I normally write this newsletter every week on Mondays, but I’m putting out a special edition because there’s really exciting energy in New York City at the moment around green healthy schools.

Zohran Mamdani released a green healthy schools platform during the primary campaign, and it made a little splash, but it wasn’t central to his affordability message. I’ve been hoping others might take up that policy and make it into a concerted campaign, and my hopes came true!

A big coalition in the city just released a series of reports, petitions, and action plans around winning green healthy schools in the city. There’s a rally happening Wednesday at 12pm at City Hall.

In solidarity with the campaign, I’m sending out this special edition of the newsletter with some revenue ideas I’ve been thinking about for green healthy schools in NYC. For each one I describe the idea and then where the action would happen, whether local or state levels (and here’s a video about how school buildings are financed in NYC, along with the ideas below).

1. Guaranteed Energy Savings Act for NY - Amend procurement laws to permit waivers for decarbonizing tech when school districts do requests for proposals on facilities projects. The “lowest bidder” regulations shouldn’t prohibit green infrastructure spending. (This would be from the state assembly.)

2. Take advantage of Inflation Reduction Act geothermal heat pump tax credit programs not gutted by Trump. They’re available for ten years and can stack up to 60% reimbursement depending on the locations of the projects. (This would happen through the NYCDOE, I believe at the School Construction Authority along with the Transitional Finance Authority.)

3. Increase the Maximum Compensation Amount (MCA) to $100 million and build aid ratio to 75% for green school projects. The state should pick up the slack for decarbonization of schools. (Again, state assembly change.)

4. State subsidy for any increased borrowing costs associated with higher credit ratings for building aid revenue bonds (BARBs), which tend to be more highly rated for arbitrary and bad reasons, making them more expensive to issue. (Again, state assembly.)

5. Work with Comptroller Levine to invest TPS at least 1% of the fund into green school bonds across the state. He’s already super proud of investing in NYC housing, why not do schools too and use the people’s money for the people’s education? (NYC Comptroller’s office, but potentially also the state comptroller as well.)

I’ll say at the end here as well that I’m interested in thinking about how green healthy schools provide a framework for schools policy generally. Democratic socialists don’t have a clear schools policy, which I think will become a big vulnerability in the second half of Zohran’s first term, and during re-election.

People care about their schools, and they like how Zohran approaches issues, but we don’t yet have a Zohran-coded schools policy. Green healthy schools can be that!

And while the specific infrastructure wins are crucial, there’s potential for a democratic socialist NYC education policy framework centered on buildings:

• Addressing integration through environmental antiracism around the buildings;

• Curriculum change through study of facilities (study the buildings, not AI!);

• The link between physical infrastructure, like buildings, and social infrastructure, like labor (teachers, paras, staff, etc).

Solidarity with this important movement!