Climate Parents of Prince George’s County
On January 25 testimony was given on the FY25 Budget Hearing by two Climate Parents volunteers. Nate from Eleanor Roosevelt High School spoke on the importance of PGCPS providing funding for solar installations on his school and others throughout the county and Joseph spoke on the need for funding for solar, crossing guards, and composting programs, as well as the need to take advantage of all of the federal and state grant programs that are available to schools. You can check out the video to hear the testimony from us and other concerned residents.
There is also one more PGCPS FY25 Budget Hearing on February 15. You should register to speak up for funding of school climate action.
We testified in favor of two bills at the the December 4 Prince George’s House Delegation Meeting
The first bill was PG 301-24, which would authorize stop sign cameras, which is important for the safety of young students that walk or bike to school. Read the testimony.
We also spoke in favor 501-24 that would study the feasibility of relocating the Board of Education headquarters. This would align with one of the commendaitons found in the Climate Change Action Plan. Read the testimony testimony.
On October 25, we testified to the Prince George’s County Board of Education Operations, Budget, and Fiscal Affairs
(OBFA) Committee on the need to include important climate action items in the PGCPS FY25 operating budget. Those include:
You can read the full comment letter here.
We had a great time at the Prince George’s Green Summit in Hyattsville this Saturday. It was a great opportunity to talk about PGCPS’s Climate Change Action Plan, the progress being made, and how folks can get involved. Residents are excited to hear that composting is expanding to more schools and that an electric bus lot is being built. They are also concerned that schools are still being built in flood zones and want to see more climate-friendly food options.
Last month PGCPS released the second progress report on Climate Change Action Plan implementation (CCAP). Once agin they are showing great progress on many of the CCAP Focus Workgroup recommendations. Of course, there is always need for more on this very important issue and we will continue to advocate for full implementaiton.
Read the report here.
On May 11, we testified to the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC) on the need to develop regulations as directed by the General Assembly in Maryland Education Code Section 5-319 to require solar installation to be analyzed for new buildings and major renovations. The IAC was very receptive to our comments and even stated they are moving towards net-zero school construction. You can watch the video and read our written statement below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj7EqvjUOAY
Read the comments.
IAC’s response was excellent as well:
“The IAC is moving forward to implement, in coordination with all the other state agencies around the climate change requirements laid out in the recent Climate Solutions Now Act, as well as other statutes recently enacted. We are looking forward to pushing forward with all the LEAs around net-zero of which we are able to support with a 5% state share as well as solar for other projects in school facilities. This is all part of a larger movement forward. The IAC is fully on board with those actions.”
The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service issued a major proposal updating school nutrition standards to be based on the latest science. Our students need access to health meal to learn and climate-friendly foods to reduce our impact on the planet and get PGCPS to net-zero. We reviewed the proposal and provided the following comments to the USDA to call for healthy, sustainable nutrition standards.
Read the comments.
In January 2023 PGCPS issued its first report on the progress they have made in implementing the Climate Change Action Plan. The report shows excellent progress implementing the plan. It looks us awhile to digest all of the details in the progress report, but we did and provided feedback to the school system. You can read those comments here.