Newburgh schools win $10 million for cleaner, more efficient buildings

Newburgh schools won more than $10 million to overhaul the heating, cooling, ventilation and filtration systems at two key buildings, a move district leaders say will cut energy use and protect local taxpayers.

The Newburgh Enlarged City School District said the award from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority will fund ground-source heat pump systems that electrify HVAC and eliminate fossil fuel use. The project also includes state-of-the-art ventilation and filtration, part of a broader push to make school buildings healthier and more efficient while lowering operating costs.

District Superintendent Dr. Jackielynn Manning Campbell, who became superintendent on July 1, 2022, said the funding marks a major step toward modernizing buildings and reducing the district’s dependence on fossil fuels. NECSD said she sees the work as part of a larger effort to create healthier learning environments for students and staff, while also turning the buildings into “living laboratory” opportunities that connect clean-energy work with the curriculum.

The district expects the changes to reduce total energy use and costs in the targeted buildings by 55 percent, a savings target that could matter far beyond the utility bill. Lower energy costs can help steady future budgets, free up money for academic programming and make long-term capital planning less painful for a large urban district serving about 10,400 K-12 students in the City of Newburgh, the Town of Newburgh, New Windsor and part of Cornwall.

Board of Education President John Doerre said the award allows Newburgh to make critical infrastructure upgrades without passing the cost on to local taxpayers. Assistant Superintendent for Finance Kimberly Rohring said CSArch helped with the application and design, giving the district a technical and financial path into the state program.

The money comes as Governor Kathy Hochul announced more than $100 million in new Clean Green Schools funding statewide on April 27, with NYSERDA saying more than $41 million had already been awarded to five Priority School Districts in earlier rounds. State officials said the initiative is meant to help schools remove cost barriers, reduce energy use and improve indoor air quality through retrofits, electrification-readiness work and heat-pump conversions.

For Newburgh, the award is more than a facilities upgrade. It puts two major school buildings at the center of a taxpayer-funded energy test: whether cleaner systems can deliver lower bills, better air and more room in the budget for classrooms.