Evaluating K-12 Public School District Sustainability Plans for Justice and Equity – Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Introduction and Research Questions

Public K-12 school districts and facilities play a crucial role in communities, cities, and regions across the United States. With over 100,000 public school facilities serving more than 50 million students and employing over 6 million staff, these institutions have a significant physical and social footprint. Over the past two decades, many school districts have developed and implemented district-wide Sustainability and Climate Action Plans (SCAPs) to address environmental and social challenges.

Beyond education, schools serve vital community functions, such as providing vaccines, subsidized meals, and emergency shelter during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters. This highlights their importance as critical social and physical infrastructure.

This report analyzes sustainability and climate plans of large public K-12 school districts with an emphasis on just and equitable planning aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities).

1. How are K-12 public school districts addressing climate equity and justice through sustainability and climate plans?
2. What resources support the creation and implementation of these plans at district and school levels?
3. How are school district plans coordinated with local municipal or county climate and sustainability plans?
4. What barriers and opportunities affect just and equitable climate and sustainability planning across large school districts?

Initial findings indicate that energy use reduction and cost savings are primary drivers for many SCAPs, shaping data, processes, and goals. However, this focus often limits widespread buy-in, prompting plans to evolve toward broader sustainability and equity considerations involving multiple district departments.

Resource constraints are common, with sustainability efforts often managed by a single officer. Opportunities exist to enhance resources through stronger coordination with local climate plans, enabling districts to contribute their equity focus to broader sustainability efforts.

Conceptual Framework, Data, and Methods

Conceptualization of Justice and Equity in Sustainability Planning

The study applies frameworks from sustainability and urban planning literature to assess justice and equity in SCAPs. Justice and equity are intertwined; equitable plans must be just in outcomes or processes. The analysis employs three justice dimensions:

• Distributive Justice: Fair and deserved outcomes.
• Procedural Justice: Fair and satisfying processes.
• Justice as Recognition: Inclusion and centering of historically marginalized groups disproportionately affected by environmental hazards and climate change.

Equity is examined across four categories:

• Distributive Equity: Fair distribution of benefits and burdens.
• Procedural Equity: Fairness in decision-making processes.
• Social Equity: Equity across socioeconomic factors such as race, class, and gender.
• Geographic Equity: Equity across geographic units, such as individual school facilities.

The study operationalizes equity in plans by coding references to equity as a vision, goal, problem to address, or guiding principle for actions.

Data Collection and Analysis Methods

The research focused on large public K-12 school districts with enrollments over 15,000 students (n=341), narrowing to 18 districts with publicly available SCAPs from 2015 to 2022. These districts vary in demographics, socioeconomic status, and environmental vulnerability, providing a robust dataset for analysis.

Methods included:

• Content Analysis: Coding SCAPs for references to justice and equity across types and frames.
• Scoring Matrix: Developed 27 components of just and equitable SCAPs, scoring plans on a scale from strong to little/no evidence to compare justice and equity levels.
• Interviews: Conducted eight interviews with sustainability leaders from selected districts to understand implementation challenges and successes.

Results and Analysis

Equity as a Framing Device

Equity is widely used as a framing goal in SCAPs, often mandated by district-wide equity policies. However, procedural justice—concrete processes ensuring fairness and inclusion—is less evident. Many plans mention equity but lack mechanisms such as baseline data collection, targeted engagement with marginalized communities, and post-implementation evaluation.

Examples include:

• Austin Independent School District: Engaged historically marginalized populations through an Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee (ESAC) redesigned to represent vulnerable communities, aligning with justice as recognition.
• Baltimore City Public Schools: Used equity to drive measurable goals, reflecting a high percentage of nonwhite students and students eligible for free/reduced lunch.

Capacity Building Challenges

Many SCAPs originated as energy cost-saving initiatives, often led by energy professionals with limited capacity to address equity comprehensively. Sustainability leaders frequently lack authority over implementation areas, requiring coordination across siloed departments.

Challenges include:

• Limited human resources and funding.
• Decreased stakeholder buy-in when plans focus narrowly on energy reduction without engagement.
• Need for systemic approaches to integrate justice-centered lenses across departments.

The Role of Climate Action Champions

Successful SCAPs with strong equity and justice components often have champions at multiple levels:

• Leadership Champions: For example, the former superintendent of Prince George’s County, Maryland, aligned climate action with equity strategic plans and secured resources and community partnerships.
• Grassroots Champions: In Boulder Valley County, student activists supported by organizations like the Sunrise Movement advocated for climate justice policies, increasing public engagement and accountability.

Policy Recommendations and Conclusion

1. Enhance Cooperation with Local Governments: School districts should collaborate with municipal and county sustainability and climate offices to share resources, data, and strategies. This cooperation can strengthen capacity, unify advocacy efforts, and promote SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).
2. Increase Resources and Capacity for Sustainability Officers: Investing in human capital to institutionalize ongoing stakeholder engagement across departments, schools, and communities is essential. Utilizing comprehensive data—including environmental justice indicators and social vulnerability metrics—will support SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
3. Advocate for Federal Funding and Support: Districts should lobby for sustained federal funding to improve green infrastructure and retrofit school facilities, enhancing air quality and climate resilience. Strengthening capacity to access grants will support SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) and SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being).

Implementing these recommendations will advance just and equitable sustainability and climate action in public K-12 education, contributing to multiple Sustainable Development Goals and fostering resilient, inclusive communities.

1. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Addressed in the Article

1. SDG 4: Quality Education
   • The article focuses on public K-12 school districts and their role in education and community services.
   • Emphasizes safe, healthy, and equitable school facilities as part of quality education.
2. SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
   • Reduction of energy use and costs is a primary driver in school district sustainability and climate action plans (SCAPs).
   • Efforts to improve energy efficiency in school facilities.
3. SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
   • Focus on equity and justice in sustainability and climate plans, addressing disparities within school districts.
   • Engagement with historically marginalized groups and equitable resource distribution.
4. SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
   • Schools as critical infrastructure in communities, serving as emergency shelters and vaccination sites.
   • Coordination with local municipal and county sustainability and climate plans.
5. SDG 13: Climate Action
   • Development and implementation of sustainability and climate action plans in school districts.
   • Addressing climate equity and justice through these plans.
6. SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
   • School facilities providing public health services during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., vaccines, subsidized meals).
   • Improving air quality and environmental conditions in classrooms.

2. Specific Targets Under Identified SDGs

1. SDG 4: Quality Education
   • Target 4.a: Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments.
2. SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
   • Target 7.3: By 2030, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency.
3. SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
   • Target 10.2: Empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.
4. SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
   • Target 11.5: Reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected by disasters, including water-related disasters.
   • Target 11.b: Increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
5. SDG 13: Climate Action
   • Target 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning.
6. SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
   • Target 3.d: Strengthen the capacity of all countries for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks.

3. Indicators Mentioned or Implied to Measure Progress

1. Equity and Justice Indicators
   • References and counts of equity types in SCAPs: procedural, geographic, social, and distributional equity.
   • References to justice types: distributive justice, procedural justice, and justice as recognition.
   • Use of equity as a goal, problem to address, or action in plans.
   • Presence of baseline data collection, targeted engagement, and post-implementation evaluation.
   • Inclusion of historically marginalized groups in planning and engagement processes.
2. Energy Use and Cost Reduction
   • Measurement of energy consumption and cost savings as primary drivers of SCAPs.
   • Tracking energy efficiency improvements in school facilities.
3. Capacity and Resource Indicators
   • Number of sustainability officers and their capacity to implement plans.
   • Extent of coordination with local municipal and county climate and sustainability plans.
   • Availability and use of federal and state funding for green infrastructure and retrofits.
4. Community Engagement and Transparency
   • Evidence of stakeholder engagement, including vulnerable populations.
   • Use of advisory committees and inclusion of students, teachers, and community members.
   • Transparency in reporting and communication of plan progress.
5. Environmental and Social Vulnerability Data
   • Use of environmental justice screening indices and social vulnerability scores.
   • Data on demographics such as percentage of nonwhite students, free/reduced lunch eligibility, and median household income.

4. Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

SDGs	Targets	Indicators
SDG 4: Quality Education	4.a: Build and upgrade education facilities that are safe, inclusive, and effective.	Assessment of school facility conditions (safe, healthy, equitable). Inclusion of equity goals in school district plans. Engagement of marginalized groups in planning.
SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy	7.3: Double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency.	Energy consumption and cost reduction metrics in SCAPs. Implementation of energy efficiency projects in schools.
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities	10.2: Promote social, economic, and political inclusion of all.	References to equity and justice in plans. Use of baseline and post-implementation equity data. Targeted engagement of marginalized communities.
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities	11.5: Reduce deaths and people affected by disasters. 11.b: Adopt integrated policies for inclusion and climate adaptation.	Use of school facilities as emergency shelters and command centers. Coordination with local municipal and county sustainability plans. Data on environmental justice and social vulnerability indices.
SDG 13: Climate Action	13.2: Integrate climate change measures into policies and planning.	Existence and quality of sustainability and climate action plans. Inclusion of equity and justice in climate planning. Tracking implementation progress and capacity building.
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being	3.d: Strengthen capacity for early warning and risk management of health risks.	Use of school facilities for public health services (e.g., vaccination). Improvement of air quality and environmental conditions in schools. Monitoring environmental hazards affecting students and staff.

Source: kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu