Air Conditioning Update

The intense heat is definitely a HOT topic. According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, July 2023 was by far the hottest month in Earth's recorded history.

As a result, much of our state has been under excessive heat warnings or advisories this summer.

The record breaking temperatures continue.

In our schools, the air conditioning is working overtime to keep up. We have 29 million square feet of air-conditioned space in our schools. That's the equivalent of 14,500 homes.

Fortunately, thanks to voters who helped us pass the Education Referendum in November 2018, we have the funds to continually replace and renovate these a/c units. Just this past summer, our school district spent $87,890,019 on major air conditioning upgrades, fire alarm system replacements and other infrastructure improvements.

Crews replaced or renovated air conditioning units in 14 of our schools.

Since the Referendum passed, we have completed 57 air conditioning overhauls. Fourteen additional major projects are planned for next summer. The bidding and planning is already taking place for these projects.

Every time you make a purchase in Hillsborough County, know that a half-penny is going toward our schools - and going to make those important improvements to our infrastructure, including replacing and renovating air conditioning units to keep our students and staff cool during this unprecedented heat.

There's a small room in our Maintenance Operations Center that is vital to the cooling of our schools.

It is filled with computers, and it monitors the temperature in every classroom in every school in the district.

Kenny Otero is the Department Manager of Air Conditioning and Energy Management. He says, hours before the sun even rises, someone is in that room looking at the temperatures to see if anything looks amiss.

The hope is by checking the temperatures so early, that we can fix any issue before staff and students even arrive at school. Often, that's exactly what happens.

Sometimes the fix is as easy as flipping a switch, remotely, from that small room at the Maintenance Operations Center. Other times, we must dispatch a crew, and they can reset the system from the school.

If the fix is more complicated, new parts may need to ordered, or other work on the air conditioning unit must be done.

The safety and comfort of our students and staff is a top priority. Even when the a/c is out for 24 hours, that's 24 hours too long when you're trying to teach or learn.

We understand that. That's why our crews take every outage so seriously and work quickly to get it fixed.

However, if a classroom or wing is out and we can't get it repaired quickly, we make sure the principal is aware so they can move the students to other classrooms or areas that have air conditioning.

If students can't be moved because all classrooms are filled, our crews can bring in portable chillers to bring in cooler air.

We have hundreds of staff working on air conditioning issues at schools, from our own internal staff to our vendors and their teams.

• The set point for the thermostats in our schools is 76 degrees.

• We do not turn off the air conditioning at night and on weekends. The thermostats are raised through an automated system to 78 degrees to conserve energy and to reduce the district's annual electric bill.

• The district's annual electric bill is $38.5 million a year.

• Thanks to the Education Referendum, we expect to complete approximately 15 major school air conditioning projects every summer. You can find out more about the Education Referendum here.

• Over the full 10 years of the Referendum, funds from the half-penny sales tax will overhaul or replace a/c systems at 203 of our schools.

Email: Laura.Cross@hcps.net
Website: HillsboroughSchools.org
Location: 901 East Kennedy Boulevard, Tampa, FL, USA
Phone: 813-272-4000
Facebook: facebook.com/HillsboroughSch
Twitter: @HillsboroughSch