Thousands of Hawaii classrooms still need air conditioning

Jun 23, 2023

by: Max Rodriguez

Posted: Aug 3, 2023 / 09:21 PM HST

Updated: Aug 3, 2023 / 09:21 PM HST

HONOLULU (KHON2) — As students get ready for the new school year, the state’s Department of Education facilities staff are busy making updates to campuses across the state; but the DOE is still ways away from reaching its goal of installing air conditioning units in the majority of public school classrooms.

Hawaii is known for its tropical year-round weather, but the heat could be an issue even in the Aloha state. For years, education advocates have been calling for the need to install air conditioning in classrooms.

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James Campbell High School teacher Corey Rosenlee has been raising awareness about the need to give students relief from the heat for many years.

He said, “I created this great lesson plan, and I just saw that they were so hot that eventually they were putting their heads down.”

In 2016, then-Governor David Ige funded the DOE with $100 million to install air conditioning units at schools; the DOE completed about 1,300 classrooms back then.

Just last year, another $10 million in funding came from the state legislature to support those efforts.

The Department of Education Assistant Superintendent for the Office of Facilities and Operations Randall Tanaka said it is not just about installing window units, he said some schools require electrical and infrastructure work in order to install the a/c units.

Tanaka said, “We did about 800 units; and that’s also once again, it’s not just sticking a window unit in there. It’s the energy, the wiring and the electrical.”

Tanaka said out of the 12,000 classrooms statewide, 3,400 units have been installed so far. He said there are classrooms in certain areas of the state that are hotter and get priority, such as the west side portions of the islands.

Tanaka said, “If we achieve 60% of what the target is, I think we are going to be in pretty good shape; and the level of urgency will be less.”

For some, the work is moving at a slow pace.

State House Committee on Education Chair Representative Justin Woodson said, “Respectfully, it’s 2023; and we still don’t have A/Cs in every single classroom. We know there’s a direct cause and correlation between the temperature of the classroom and learning.”

Rosenlee said students are more engaged in the classroom once the A/C was installed inside classrooms at James Campbell High School.

Rosenlee said, “They are able to focus now, pay attention to the lessons; it makes a huge difference.”

At this point, it is a sure bet to say reaching the goal of installing A/C units in all classrooms remains years and millions of dollars away.

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Tanaka said, “The cost of equipment gets higher, shipping gets higher and the units that we are going to install, some of these schools are older. So, what is that infrastructure cost going to cost us?”

The new school year starts on August 7.

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