Three Important Announcements: I have both bad news and good news on this last day of the 2021 legislative session.
Bad News -- Our CIP request of $3.3 million to cool all Kaiser Complex Area schools was removed from the state budget, HB200 CD1. We no longer have a line item in the budget.
 
Good News #1 -- Kaiser High School has a line item in the budget. Senator Chris Lee's ask of $600,000 to cool Kaiser High School has ballooned into $2.5 million. I still don't have clarity on how this happened; however, with this amount of money, Kaiser will have more than enough money to fund the cooling of every single classroom, gymnasium, weightroom, etc. See language below:
38. KAISER HIGH SCHOOL, OAHU. PLANS, DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT FOR IMPROVING VENTILATION, PROJECT MAY INCLUDE AIR CONDITIONING, HEAT ABATEMENT AND OTHER RELATED IMPROVEMENTS AND ELECTRICAL IMPROVEMENTS; VENTILATION IMPROVEMENTS; GROUND AND SITE IMPROVEMENTS; EQUIPMENT AND APPURTENANCES.
TOTAL FUNDING EDN 2,500 V V
 
Good News #2 -- Under HB613 CD2 that has passed, the legislature has appropriated a portion of the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund towards heat abatement for all public school classrooms currently without air conditioning.
" The sum of $110,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2021-2022 shall be expended by the office of facilities and operations to address school-level needs for safe re-opening, including but not limited to improved indoor air quality, food services, transportation, personal protective equipment, and other needs as identified by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention; provided that for indoor air quality measures, priority shall be given to those projects that also provide heat abatement through mechanical cooling, such as air conditioning with appropriate Centers for Disease Control filtration systems;"
 
Of the $110 million, an estimated $70 million will go towards ACs. I am still waiting for verbal confirmation from the DOE's Department of Facilities and Maintenance of the exact dollar amount designated. Cool Our Keiki Coalition will continue to maintain close contact with the DOE Facilities and Maintenance Department to make sure that once the Governor releases the funds (hopefully no later than September), that Kaiser Complex Schools will get cooling. In fact, there is no reason with this amount of money we cannot cool all classrooms across the state. The $100 million blight that cooled only 1000 classrooms in 2016 must not happen this time. We are determined to see this through and make sure our classrooms are safe and comfortable for our keiki as they return to in-person school full-time next school year. Mahalo for your support.