Schools across the U.S. are dealing with record heat — and no air conditioning

Students are returning to school this month and next, and for millions of them, their classrooms will be hot. More than 10,000 schools nationwide lack air conditioning, according to the Center for Climate Integrity.

With soaring temps across the Midwest and East Coast, some schools are releasing students early or closing altogether this week.

Back when many schools were built in cities like Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago, air conditioning wasn’t really needed during the school year.

Now though? “We can’t fight off the hot weather by opening a window anymore,” said Travis Roach, an economics professor at the University of Central Oklahoma.

He’s found that classroom heat is bad for student test scores. “It’s harming our productivity. It’s harming our learning,” Roach said.

But adding AC can cost hundreds of millions of dollars for large school districts, said Paul Chinowsky, emeritus professor of engineering at UC Boulder.

“This is one of the toughest problems that’s out there, because we have such local authority in schools,” he said.

Some districts issue bonds to pay for AC, he noted — but that’s not an option everywhere.

“It’s a real equity problem then that you’re creating districts that can afford it versus districts that not,” Chinowsky said.

COVID-19 stimulus helped some schools with AC, he added but it didn’t move the needle nationwide.