May 2026
Tracking CalSHAPE: HVAC funding in California’s public schools
The California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing, and Efficiency Program (CalSHAPE) provides 100% grant funding to assess, repair, and upgrade HVAC systems in California public schools. Of the 4,688 school sites that completed Phase 1, only 172 received Phase 2 funding before the California Energy Commission (CEC) closed applications in July 2024. This page tracks where awards have reached, where they haven’t, and what’s at risk if the program’s remaining $194 million does not go to schools.
What is CalSHAPE?
California’s only grant program for school HVAC
The California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing, and Efficiency Program (CalSHAPE) was created by AB 841 in 2020 to provide 100% grant funding for school HVAC and plumbing projects. It was funded by contributions from the energy-efficiency budgets of investor-owned utilities for a fixed three-year period that ended in 2023, so it has no effect on the General Fund or current utility rates.
Cleaner air for students and staff
Functional, well-maintained HVAC protects students and staff against harmful pollutants, infectious diseases, and dangerous temperatures — supporting attendance, health, and learning.
Lower energy use and bills
Efficient, all-electric HVAC reduces school energy use, cuts CO₂ emissions, and frees ratepayer-funded dollars from utility bills back into classrooms.
Resilience to extreme heat and wildfire smoke
Modernized systems keep schools open during extreme heat and wildfire-smoke events — the conditions California students increasingly face.
High-quality local jobs
HVAC assessments, upgrades, and repairs are skilled trades work. The program creates demand for local contractors and apprenticeships across the state.
CalSHAPE HVAC upgrades return roughly $30 in social benefits for every $1 spent.
A 2026 cost-benefit analysis estimates roughly $65,000 in net benefits per student over twenty years — driven by improved educational outcomes, reduced respiratory illness, and resilience to extreme heat and wildfire smoke.
Read the cost-benefit analysis →How the program works
CalSHAPE’s HVAC program proceeds in two phases
CalSHAPE provides 100% grant funding for school HVAC improvements, administered by the California Energy Commission. Phase 1 funds assessments of HVAC systems. Phase 2 funds the actual upgrades and repairs that the assessment identifies.
A licensed professional inspects each school’s HVAC system and produces a maintenance and repair plan. Grants also cover routine maintenance, minor repairs, and MERV-13 filter upgrades where feasible.
Phase 1 recipients become eligible for grants to carry out the major repairs, replacements, and full-system upgrades the assessment identified. Even some Phase 2 awardees now face strict spending deadlines that put their projects at risk.
In July 2024, the California Energy Commission abruptly closed CalSHAPE applications on one business day’s notice. Applications have never reopened — leaving 4,516 schools with a professional repair plan they cannot fund.
Where do CalSHAPE dollars go?
More funding is needed for school HVAC upgrades
Each bubble is a school district (LEA), sized by the number of CalSHAPE-awarded schools and positioned at the district’s headquarters. Counties are shaded by total CalSHAPE funding received (Phase 1 + Phase 2 dollars).
For detail and legislative-district breakdowns — including the schools, districts, and dollars at stake in each Assembly and Senate district — use the interactive web tool.
Explore the interactive web tool →Counties with no shading have no LEA in the published CalSHAPE Phase 1 dataset; this is not the same as zero awarded schools.
What’s at stake
$194 million is set to leave the program on December 1, 2026
CalSHAPE is California’s only program that fully funds school HVAC upgrades. By statute, it sunsets on January 1, 2027, and the roughly $194 million still in the program reverts to the investor-owned utilities (IOUs) — PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E — on December 1, 2026.
Nothing in current law requires utilities to pass these funds to ratepayers.
The existing reversion clause in Public Utilities Code does not specify how the IOUs can use the money once it returns to them. If reversion occurs as scheduled, $194 million in school-designated funds could stay with IOUs and never reach ratepayers.
For context: Senate Budget Subcommittee 2 estimated the per-household bill credit that would result if utilities chose to pass the reversion through — about $2.00 / month for SDG&E, $1.25 for SCE, and $0.20 for PG&E residential ratepayers, for one year.
The asks
How to save CalSHAPE
More than 35 education, public health, environmental, and labor organizations, joined by California Assembly members, have urged the Legislature to act before the December 1, 2026 reversion. They are asking the Legislature and Governor Newsom to:
Extend CalSHAPE’s statutory deadlines
Extend the CalSHAPE program, currently set to sunset on January 1, 2027, and prevent the roughly $194 million in unspent funds from reverting to investor-owned utilities on December 1, 2026.
Distribute the $194 million in remaining funds to schools
Direct the California Energy Commission to route the estimated $194 million in remaining funds to schools that need them and allow the CEC to prioritize HVAC improvements with these funds.
If the asks above are satisfied, redirect program interest to DSGS
Once the above are in place, route the program’s estimated $70 million in unspent interest to the Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) Program — a complementary clean-energy investment that keeps the funds at work for Californians.
The coalition’s proposed vehicle is an amended version of trailer bill TBL RN 26 09129, replacing its current provisions with language extending the program and routing the remaining balance to schools.
California Federation of Teachers
Undaunted K12
California Association of School Business Officials
California Labor for Climate Jobs
United Steelworkers District 12
United Steelworkers Local 675
Clean Air Allies
Coalition for Adequate School Housing
California Nurses for Environmental Health and Justice
Children Now
Climate Action Campaign
Natural Resources Defense Council
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
Sustainable Marin Schools
Go Green Initiative
Regional Asthma Management and Prevention (RAMP)
East Area Progressive Democrats (EAPD)
Sacramento Splash
SPUR
New Buildings Institute
Environment California
California Legislative Conference of the Plumbing, Heating and Piping Industry
Community Environmental Council
Ten Strands
Pioneer Union Elementary School District
Lawndale Elementary School District
Temecula Valley Unified School District
Escalon Unified School District
Torrance Unified School District
La Cañada Unified School District
Walnut Valley Unified School District
West Sonoma County Union High School District
Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District
BlueGreen Alliance
California Federation of Labor UnionsFrom the more than 35 organizations on the April 13, 2026 coalition letter to legislative leadership. Hover over any logo to see the organization’s name.
Sources
1. California Energy Commission. California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing, and Efficiency Program (CalSHAPE) — HVAC Program Awards, 2022–2026. Phase 1 (Assessment & Maintenance) and Phase 2 (Upgrade & Repair) awards data, by local education agency.
2. California Energy Commission. CalSHAPE Program Activities and Status Report (2025), school counts and funding status by program phase.
3. Assembly Bill 841 (Ting, 2020), establishing the CalSHAPE program with the $659 million HVAC and plumbing allocation.
4. Senate Budget Subcommittee 2 on Resources, Environmental Protection and Energy, agenda for the March 5, 2026 hearing — $194 million unspent balance estimate and the $2 / $1.25 / $0.20 per-month one-year bill-credit projection for SDG&E, SCE, and PG&E residential ratepayers.
5. Public Utilities Code §1615 (statutory reversion clause) and the CalSHAPE January 1, 2027 sunset date.
6. Coalition letter to the Legislature, April 13, 2026, on CalSHAPE reauthorization and the December 2026 reversion deadline.
7. California Assembly Member sign-on letter, May 18, 2026, including the $30 social return per $1 spent and $65,000 net benefit per student over twenty years.
8. Climate Ready Schools Coalition, CalSHAPE Cost-Benefit Analysis (2026).
9. Leah Stokes, “Op-Ed: California should keep CalSHAPE funding with schools,” Los Angeles Times, May 28, 2026.
10. District geography from official California State Assembly and Senate district boundary files. Each LEA was assigned to its Assembly and Senate districts via point-in-polygon analysis on its representative location.