Skip to main content
    Solar for schools

    Solar for schools: Turn the school roof into a power plant.

    America's school districts spend nearly $8 billion a year on energy, their second largest cost after teachers. Only about 9% of schools from kindergarten through high school have solar.

    Try it in the sliderTalk to Ryan

    Ryan K. Hertel · heyitskenton

    The problem

    What we're up against.

    • A big energy bill.

      School districts spend nearly $8 billion a year on energy, the second largest expense after teacher salaries.

    • Few schools have solar.

      10,840 schools, about 9% of the nation's schools, had solar in the newest national count. America has 99,073 public schools.

    • Old buildings.

      An estimated 54% of public school districts have several building systems due for repair or replacement: about 36,000 schools need heating and cooling work, and about 28,000 need new roofs.

    • Schools are shelters too.

      Schools also serve as polling places and emergency shelters.

    What works

    Proven, and ready to grow.

    • Prices have fallen.

      Over two decades, solar's installed price has fallen 70% to 80% after inflation, and big systems like schools' cost less per watt.

    • Savings that pay teachers.

      In Batesville, Arkansas, solar and efficiency upgrades save the district nearly $100,000 a year, and part of it goes to teacher raises of $2,000 to $3,000, by the district's account.

    • A state shows the way.

      Pennsylvania awarded $22.5 million in solar grants to 73 schools, projected to cut their bills by $5 million a year.

    • No money down.

      Under a power purchase agreement, a company owns the panels and sells the school cheaper power, which removes the upfront cost.

    • Comfortable classrooms help learning.

      Heat hurts learning, and air conditioning may offset it, and better indoor air raised test scores in one Texas district. No study yet shows solar itself raises scores.

    What a family could fund

    Where the money goes furthest.

    • One school's array.

      An average school system is 225 kilowatts, and systems that size cost about $2.60 a watt before incentives, or about $585,000 for the whole array, by our arithmetic.

    • Add a battery.

      Pairing large systems with batteries cost about $1.30 more a watt, so a school can keep the lights on in an outage.

    • Match a state's grant.

      Pennsylvania's grants cover up to 50% of a project's cost, and the program has invested $27,188,960 in 84 schools so far.

    • Free planning help.

      A nonprofit solar group has helped 57 Pennsylvania schools plan solar, by its own count.

    • Room to grow.

      About 88,233 public schools still have no solar, by our arithmetic.

    Honest limits

    What money can't promise.

    • Owning it didn't always pay.

      A national study found that, at the prices of the time, solar cost schools more than it saved everywhere in the country, except some places with a third party owning the panels.

    • The roof comes first.

      Panels belong on roofs that are fairly new or freshly replaced. About 28,000 schools need new roofs.

    • Solar doesn't fix the air.

      In one district, energy efficiency scores had no effect on classrooms or test scores, and in Texas, school building campaigns did little for achievement.

    • Tax credit rules changed.

      Under federal rules issued in 2025, a solar project starting construction now gets the federal credit only if it's working by the end of 2027.

    Hard questions

    Asked and answered.

    1. You might ask

      Do schools really save money?

      Ryan

      Often, especially with grants or no-money-down deals, but a national study at older prices found owning solar didn't pay everywhere, and the biggest savings stories are districts' own accounts.

    2. You might ask

      Why not fix leaky roofs and old heating first?

      Ryan

      Often that's the right order: panels belong on sound roofs, and better indoor air has the clearer link to learning. An initiative can fund the roof with the solar.

    3. You might ask

      Isn't this just a political statement?

      Ryan

      It can be judged as a budget question: lower utility bills are what districts mostly want from solar.

    In the slider

    See what your fortune could do here.

    Solar for schools

    The slider prices this cause with these numbers:

    • An average school system of 225 kilowatts, at about $2.60 a watt, costs about $585,000 before incentives, by our arithmetic.
    • The whole need is America's 99,073 public schools, less the 10,840 schools that already have solar: about 88,233.
    • The price leaves out roof repairs and batteries, and savings depend on local rates and how the panels are owned.
    Try it in the sliderTalk to Ryan

    More of the Blueprint

    Keep reading.

    5 more chapters on the way

    Back to Keep 100

    Sources

    Every number in this chapter, and where it came from.

    1. Source 1: K-12 School Districts (opens in a new tab)

      US Department of Energy. Checked 16 October 2026.

    2. Source 2: Brighter Future: The State of Solar and Battery Storage in U.S. K-12 Schools (opens in a new tab)

      Generation180, August 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

      A nonprofit's census from public records. It counts private schools too, and may miss some systems.

    3. Source 3: Number of operating public elementary and secondary schools and districts, school year 2024-25 (opens in a new tab)

      National Center for Education Statistics. Checked 16 October 2026.

    4. Source 4: K-12 Education: School Districts Frequently Identified Multiple Building Systems Needing Updates or Replacement (opens in a new tab)

      US Government Accountability Office, June 2020. Checked 16 October 2026.

    5. Source 5: U.S. Distributed Solar and Storage: 2026 Data Update (opens in a new tab)

      Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, August 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

      The price per watt for systems of 100 to 250 kilowatts is read from the chart on slide 36, in 2025 dollars.

    6. Source 6: Batesville, AR: Energy Savings Reap Investments in Teacher Pay and Education (opens in a new tab)

      Generation180, 14 September 2020. Checked 16 October 2026.

      A district's own account. The solar came with lighting and water upgrades.

    7. Source 7: Pennsylvania schools charge ahead with solar despite federal setbacks (opens in a new tab)

      Generation180, 18 December 2025. Checked 16 October 2026.

      The nonprofit's own account; the savings are projected.

    8. Source 8: Brighter Future: A Study on Solar in U.S. K-12 Schools (opens in a new tab)

      Generation180, August 2024. Checked 16 October 2026.

    9. Source 9: Heat and Learning (Park, Goodman, Hurwitz and Smith) (opens in a new tab)

      National Bureau of Economic Research, May 2018. Checked 16 October 2026.

      Published in American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2020.

    10. Source 10: Indoor air quality and academic performance (Stafford) (opens in a new tab)

      Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2015. Checked 16 October 2026.

      Renovations in one Texas district, compared over time.

    11. Source 11: Pennsylvania invests $25 million in its Solar for Schools program (opens in a new tab)

      Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, 25 August 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    12. Source 12: Solar PV as a mitigation strategy for the US education sector (Hanus and others) (opens in a new tab)

      Environmental Research Letters, March 2019. Checked 16 October 2026.

      At the prices of the time, which have fallen since.

    13. Source 13: Solar Schools Assessment and Implementation Project: Financing Options for Solar Installations on K-12 Schools (opens in a new tab)

      National Renewable Energy Laboratory, October 2011. Checked 16 October 2026.

    14. Source 14: Academic stars and Energy Stars, an assessment of student academic achievement and school building energy efficiency (Apriesnig and others) (opens in a new tab)

      Energy Policy, 1 December 2020. Checked 16 October 2026.

      One suburban district.

    15. Source 15: Investing in Schools: Capital Spending, Facility Conditions, and Student Achievement (Martorell, Stange and McFarlin) (opens in a new tab)

      National Bureau of Economic Research, September 2015. Checked 16 October 2026.

      Texas, comparing districts where bond votes narrowly passed or failed.

    16. Source 16: Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-36 (Notice 2025-42) (opens in a new tab)

      Internal Revenue Service, 2 September 2025. Checked 16 October 2026.