School District should continue to invest in energy | Letters | July 9

Published 12:29 pm Friday, July 9, 2010

Kudos to the Bainbridge Island School District for its recent lighting retrofit project that will save some $40,000 and over 600,000 kWh of electricity per year.

Combined with the district’s recent successful application for Qualified School Construction Bonds and their use of Build America Bonds to refinance debt, the BISD has taken steps that will save taxpayers many millions of dollars in the coming years.

The availability of $897,000 in excess funds from the 2006 Capital Facilities Bond offers another opportunity for the district to demonstrate long-range thinking.

In the closing days of the last legislative session, state legislators made $100 million in grants available to K-12 schools, colleges and universities to help fund infrastructure improvements that create energy and operational savings.

The grants require a district match but could pay for 30 percent or more of the cost of implementing such measures in island schools – measures that will generate savings that can be used to pay teachers and critical support staff.

I hope BISD leadership will take advantage of this opportunity to turn the funds made available by their excellent stewardship of construction dollars into additional savings that the district can realize year after year through lower electricity, propane, water and sewer bills.

Fritz Feiten

Bainbridge Island