Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett announced today that 86 schools will receive air conditioned classrooms for the 2014-2015 school year. In April, Mayor Emanuel and CPS CEO Byrd-Bennett announced the first phase of the five-year plan to provide air conditioning to every classroom.

As part of the plan, 57 air conditioning installations will be completed under budget this August, prior to the start of the school year, allowing another 29 schools to be added to the first phase of the plan. The additional schools will receive air conditioned classrooms by the end of October. With this investment, a total of 154 schools have received air conditioning in the past two years.

“Air conditioning is an important investment to establish a comfortable learning environment for our children,” said Mayor Emanuel. “With the first phase of the five-year plan completed on time and under budget, we will be able to increase the number of schools receiving air conditioning so our students and teachers can focus on their studies and not the temperature in the classroom. This plan is part of ensuring that every CPS student is 100 percent college ready and 100 percent college bound.”
The increase in the number of schools is the result of lower-than-expected electrical costs for the first phase of this project, which is included in the FY15 capital budget. The first phase of the plan will cost approximately $20 million and is estimated to cost approximately $20 million each subsequent year. The electrical savings allows CPS to expand the air conditioning investment to 29 additional schools for the same total funding.

"As we continue to elevate the quality of instruction CPS students receive in the classroom, it is imperative that we simultaneously work to improve the quality of our learning environments," said CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett. "Expanding air conditioning to more schools on an accelerated timeline is an important step forward for Chicago Public Schools."

The 57 schools included in the initial investment announced in April either had no air conditioning or only partial air conditioning in their classrooms. With today’s announcement, an additional 29 schools will also receive new air conditioning for the coming school year because a majority of those schools already had partial air conditioning, requiring a lower infrastructure investment. These schools represent a geographic balance across the district so all communities will benefit from the initial investment and expansion. This investment will add to air conditioning that Mayor Emanuel and the Board installed in 2013 at 68 schools, including the 55 welcoming schools.

List of additional schools:
Phillip D Armour Elementary School
Albert R Sabin Elementary Magnet School
Henry H Nash Elementary School
Washington High School
Sauganash Elementary School
Charles P Caldwell Academy of Math & Science ES
Edgebrook Elementary School
William E B Dubois Elementary School
James Hedges Elementary School
Brighton Park Elementary School
Franklin Elementary Fine Arts Center
Alcott High School for the Humanities
Foster Park Elementary School
Cesar E Chavez Multicultural Academic Center ES
Ernst Prussing Elementary School
Carl von Linne Elementary School
John Greenleaf Whittier Elementary School
Mark Sheridan Elementary Math & Science Academy
Rowe Elementary School
Alexander Hamilton Elementary School
Joshua D Kershaw Elementary School
Joseph Jungman Elementary School
Orville T Bright Elementary School
Richard J Oglesby Elementary School
Wolfgang A Mozart Elementary School
Frank W Reilly Elementary School
DeWitt Clinton Elementary School
Anna R. Langford Community Academy
Daniel Webster Elementary School

A full list of schools receiving air conditioning is available here.

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