Governor signs bill on school temperature

On Board Online • January 13, 2025

By Brian Fessler
Chief Advocacy Officer

A new law sets 88 degrees as the maximum temperature for occupancy of all spaces used by students in public school buildings, beginning in September 2025. Gov. Kathy Hochul approved the measure in mid-December.

The law may result in midday evacuations - particularly at the beginning and end of the school year, when outside temperatures are the warmest.

The law also mandates that school boards create a policy that requires staff to try to "relieve heat-related discomfort" whenever the temperature of an occupied room reaches 82 degrees (as measured at a shaded location that is three feet above the floor and near the center of the room). Methods to increase comfort may include turning off lights, lowering shades, turning on fans or providing water breaks.

New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) was a leading proponent of the legislation.

"Gov. Hochul's decision to sign this bill into law reflects a commitment to ensuring our classrooms are conducive to learning - not sweltering saunas," NYSUT President Melinda Person said in a statement.

Two legislators from Orange County - state Sen. James Skoufis and Assembly member Chris Eachus - sponsored the bill, which applies only to public school districts and BOCES. Private schools and charter schools have no new requirements related to room temperature.

"NYSSBA was strongly opposed to this legislation, as drafted," said NYSSBA Executive Director Robert Schneider. "While the bill was being discussed in the Legislature, we shared a number of questions and concerns with lawmakers."

Based on feedback from school board members from across the state, NYSSBA pointed out this legislation:

• May result in equity issues by disproportionately affecting lower income families who have no air conditioning at home or have parents who are unable to leave work midday.
• Puts pressure on school districts to invest enormous sums in air conditioning. For example, a western New York school district with an annual budget of about $160 million estimated that retrofitting its nine buildings would cost about $180 million.
• May prompt superintendents to cancel school based on forecasts, which could jeopardize their ability to reach 180 days of instruction (and qualify for full state aid), particularly toward the end of the school year.

"Another problem is that temperature is not a foolproof measure of how comfortable a room is," Schneider added. "Humidity and air movement can make a huge difference. Accurate measurement of temperature is another issue."

While NYSSBA was not able to secure a veto of the bill, Gov. Hochul has been responsive to some concerns raised by NYSSBA and other school advocacy groups. She announced that she has reached an agreement with the Legislature to make changes to "clarify the process by which schools adopt extreme heat mitigation policies as well as ensuring school districts have the flexibility to determine how best to manage learning on extreme heat condition days."

"Of course, school boards understand the importance of maintaining healthy and productive learning environments," said NYSSBA President Sandra Ruffo, who is serving her 20th year as president of the Broome-Tioga BOCES board. "But the new law does nothing to help us mitigate temperatures inside classrooms. The bill offered no funding or any other kind of support to install air conditioning. Should local taxpayers foot the bill for centralized air-conditioning in every school building across the state? The reality is such costs would be exorbitant - even if voters approved such projects."

One obvious question is: "What percentage of classrooms currently are air conditioned?" In short, no one knows - and data from school building condition surveys can be misleading. A checkbox on a state form typically is used to indicate whether there is any air conditioning system in the building (e.g., the teacher's lounge). A checked box does NOT reliably indicate air conditioning is widely available in the school building, although some schools that have been renovated are air-conditioned.

"This bill was approved in a vacuum of data," Schneider said. "The rationales offered were overwhelmingly anecdotal."

"Odds seem good that we will see an amendment on school temperature management in early 2025," Schneider said.

Prior to the new law, school buildings did not have maximum temperature thresholds. School administrators had (and still have) the authority to close school for a variety of factors that might have a significant impact on student attendance - including high temperature.

Is there a minimum temperature for schools? Yes. The Property Maintenance Code of New York State sets a minimum temperature of 65 degrees in all workspaces in buildings across the state - including schools.

Editor's note: NYSSBA's Policy Department will be issuing a sample policy in line with these requirements via its Update Service.