CONCORD, NH – Today, the New Hampshire House voted “Inexpedient to Legislate” on HB 329. This bill would have required New Hampshire school boards to develop air quality policies and plans to minimize or eliminate poor indoor air quality and temperature conditions. This bill would also require schools to implement the U.S. EPA Tools for Schools program to help provide and maintain good indoor air quality in public school buildings.
Megan Tuttle, President of NEA-New Hampshire, provided the following statement after the vote:
“We know when air quality is poor and temperatures are extreme, students struggle to learn, and educators struggle to teach. As extreme temperatures become more frequent during the school year, it is incredibly disappointing that New Hampshire lawmakers have once again blocked important steps that would help our schools address extreme temperatures and air quality issues in classrooms. Despite this discouraging vote, Granite State educators won’t stop working to ensure all our students have access to safe and healthy learning environments.”
Background:
- The ideal temperature range for effective learning in reading and mathematics is between 68 and 74 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a research report by Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Evaluation and Education Policy Analysis.
- Extreme temperature isn’t just an inconvenience. As a study conducted by researchers at the University of Tulsa’s Indoor Air Program shows, it has a direct impact on student performance. Researchers found:
- Math test scores increased an average of 3.2% with improved classroom ventilation.
- Math test scores rose another 2.8% when temperatures fell from a high of 78 degrees to a low of 67 degrees.
- Healthy Schools for Healthy Living, a project of the Illinois Department of Public Health indicated that “Temperature can affect comfort and indoor environmental quality. Changing thermostat settings or opening windows to try to control temporary changes in temperature can worsen comfort problems. Classroom temperatures should be maintained between 68 degrees and 75 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter months and between 73 degrees and 79 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer month.”
- A Heat and Learning | Harvard Kennedy School study that tracked 10 million secondary students who took PSAT over a 13-year period found that the “cumulative heat exposure decreases the productivity of instructional time—without school air conditioning, a 1-degree hotter school year reduced that year’s learning by 1 percent.” From the HKS study: “The effect was three times more damaging for Black and Hispanic students than for white students, that study found. A similar discrepancy was found for students from low-income households compared to their affluent peers.”
- In a 2017 paper entitled “Heat Stress and Human Capital Production”[1], J. Park found that in New York City schools, “A one standard deviation [four day] increase in the number of days above 80 degrees Fahrenheit reduced Regents performance by approximately 4 percent of a standard deviation. The effect is similar in size to eliminating … an intervention which has been shown to increase [discounted] cumulative lifetime incomes of the same NYC students by approximately $14,800 per student.” This implies that each school day above 80 degrees Fahrenheit costs each student about $3,800 A separate recent study that examined data on state exams for 3rd to 8th graders found that the impact of heat on mathematics achievement is about three times larger than its impact on achievement in English/language arts.
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About NEA-New Hampshire
NEA-New Hampshire is the largest union of public employees in the state. Founded in 1854, the New Hampshire State Teachers Association became one of the “founding ten” state education associations that formed the National Education Association in 1857. Known today as NEA-NH, and comprised of more than 17,000 members, our mission to advocate for the children of New Hampshire and public-school employees, and to promote lifelong learning, remains true after more than 165 years. Our members are public school employees in all stages of their careers, including classroom teachers and other certified professionals, staff and instructors at public higher education institutions, students preparing for a teaching career, education support personnel and those retired from the profession.