There is no doubt that increasing energy cost will be a major problem with this year's already strained school budget. Unfortunately, like anyone who pays for his or her own heat, we will need to come up with the money somehow. Without cutting programs to pay for heat, there are only two solutions -- receive more money from the state, or run a deficit.
It will be extremely difficult to cut programs, as they have already been cut as much as possible by this year's austerity budget. Our new buildings already have energy efficiency built in, so it will be difficult to squeeze additional cost savings by implementing special energy saving ideas. We could probably cut down on the lights, or run the thermostats even lower, but it will be difficult.
One parent that I know is interested in making a learning experience out of monitoring energy usage. Another group is interested in using school property for alternative energy generation. I support both of these ideas and would continue to explore other ways that we can lower our energy usage.
