Public school officials intend to spend $8 million over the next two years cooling the warmest classrooms statewide, dropping a plan in place for years to install central air conditioning in the hottest schools one by one.

The shift in strategy — to help relieve a long-standing problem of sweaty schoolhouses — is being made to stretch limited funding for cooling, said Randy Moore, assistant superintendent of the state Department of Education.

"If we proceed down the course of air-conditioning whole schools at a time, where we can only do one or two a year, it will be a long time before we ever get to hot classrooms in areas that are not considered hot," Moore said.

It is unclear how the state will identify which classrooms are the hottest, but an independent study released last week prioritized schools based on highest temperatures and humidity in the general areas of schools.

Instead of just installing air conditioning to the schools at the top of the list, the DOE is now looking into ways to spread the money around to as many schools as possible.

"We've come to the realization that really the problem is not hot schools, but hot rooms," Moore said. "Not every room in every school is at the same temperature."

The state Legislature has appropriated about $8 million for noise- and heat-reduction measures in schools over the next two years. The DOE is expected to receive the first $4 million in February to use for cooling measures.

That's about enough money to install central air conditioning at one midsized elementary school.

The DOE is looking at alternatives to air conditioning — from ceiling fans to better insulation to ventilation systems — that would help stretch the limited dollars.

It's unclear how many classrooms could benefit from the first $4 million expected for cooling measures. That would depend on the kinds of measures selected.

Then comes the task of selecting the rooms to be cooled. One idea is to anecdotally identify the hottest classrooms in each school complex and then perform measurements on those classrooms to come up with a list of rooms most in need of cooling.

BARRIER TO EDUCATION

Twenty-one of the state's 258 public schools, excluding charter schools, are air-conditioned. At most schools, educators must take their own measures to beat the heat — from oscillating fans to donated air conditioners.

At Barbers Point Elementary School — the second hottest school in the state, according to the Energy Industries study released last week — teachers say the heat is a major barrier to effective instruction.

"At one point, we were trying to take our own temperature readings, and a majority of the time it is close to 90 degrees in the classrooms," said Gail Sakata, curriculum coordinator at the school.

Sakata, who has been a classroom teacher at Barbers Point for 25 years, said teachers sometimes have to get creative to cool off students.

"They're easily distracted because of the heat," she said.

Sakata said she often wets paper towels and asks students to place them on their foreheads and necks to help cool them down. Teachers also encourage students to drink plenty of water to prevent dehydration.

Last year, the state received about $37.9 million to perform electrical upgrades in schools. The upgrades were primarily performed to bring older schools up to building code. But they also served as a first step toward adding central air conditioning, Moore said.

Air conditioning could still be installed in some of the warmest classrooms, which tend to be portable classrooms that have poor insulation and ventilation. But it is unlikely that whole schools will be retrofitted with central air.

"The cost to air-condition the whole system, a very rough estimate, is $1.5 billion. So, faced with that kind of cost and the ongoing cost of operating it and then faced with what ought to be an increased concern over energy consumption, you have to come to the conclusion that marching down a list of air-conditioning the remaining 232 schools is not the best use of resources," Moore said.

MOVE MAY SAVE MONEY

The change in cooling plans could save the state money in electricity costs. The DOE is estimated to spend about $40 million for electricity next year.

At Ka'iulani Elementary School — the fourth-hottest school in the state, according to the study — air conditioning had been installed in 12 of the school's 30 classrooms. Air conditioning at the school alongside busy King Street was meant to reduce noise.

"It's definitely a better situation in the air-conditioned classrooms," said Ka'iulani Elementary Principal Thomas Moon. "Because we're being asked to maximize results, (heat) is a factor."

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.