SACRAMENTO, Calif. - (Business Wire) The Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) announced today that the State Allocation Board (SAB) has awarded $107,000 to the Animo Venice Charter High School in Los Angeles. Animo Venice is the first school to receive a grant from the High Performance Incentive Grant program which earmarks $100 million for
“green
” school projects funded by Proposition 1D. The High Performance Incentive Grant is part of the $15.6 million the Board has awarded the school to fund the construction of the new campus, scheduled to begin in April.
“Green schools greatly improve the learning environments for kids while helping California meet Governor Schwarzenegger’s goals for environmental responsibility,” said Anne Sheehan, SAB Chair and Chief Deputy Director of Policy at the Department of Finance.
In December 2004, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order S-20-04, ushering in the State’s Green Building Initiative. The Executive Order encourages schools built with State funds to be energy-efficient, while creating safer and healthier learning environments.
“Energy efficiency is a key element in the design of California’s schools, and studies show that students attending green schools are healthier and more productive,” said Rob Cook, Executive Officer of the SAB/OPSC. “These schools emphasize a comfortable environment, full of natural light and air, with gardens, natural shading, reduced noise levels and lowered chemical emission rates from elements such as floor and wall coverings and janitorial products.”
“High Performance schools save money, preserve precious resources and demonstrate the importance of sustainability to our children,” said John Sun, director of real estate development for Green Dot Public Schools, the nonprofit operator of Animo Venice Charter High School.
Sustainability was a critical factor in the design of the Animo campus. Osborn Architects, the Los Angeles-based architect firm that designed the school, incorporated several "green" features in various aspects of the facility and campus life. These features include:
- Innovative day lighting -- reduces the need for artificial lighting
- Drought-tolerant landscaping -- decreases the demand for water
- An efficient mechanical system - exceeds Title-24 standards
- Implementation of quality acoustics -- conducive within a dense urban environment
- An outdoor "paseo" -- enhances socialization and encourages outdoor use
- A compact footprint – reduces sprawl and revitalizes an underutilized urban site
California’s High Performance Incentive Grant program promotes high performing sustainable building practices, so that a school’s infrastructure and materials maximize energy efficiency. The regulations for the program include a High Performance Rating Criteria modeled after the Collaborative for High Performance Schools program. OPSC uses criteria to determine the high performance attributes in a project and to assign a score that correlates to the increased amount of funding a project receives. The high performance grants will provide incentives of between 2 - 10 percent of the base grant for high performance facilities.
As staff to the State Allocation Board, the Office of Public School Construction processes school applications and makes funding available to qualifying school districts. These actions enable school districts to build safe and adequate school facilities for their children in an expeditious and cost-effective manner.
California Department of General Services
Beth Mills, 916-376-5036
Eric Lamoureux, 916-376-5036
Laurel Goddard, 916-376-5036
