Boulder School District passes nation’s first Green New Deal for Schools Resolution in win for nationwide campaign

Last night, the Boulder Valley School District Board of Trustees, which leads a district of over 30,000 students, unanimously passed a student-drafted Green New Deal resolution after a months-long campaign by students at Fairview High School. It marks the first win for Sunrise Movement’s nationwide Green New Deal for Schools campaign.

In passing the resolution, the school board is redoubling its efforts to achieve 100% clean energy and improve climate change curriculum. The board is also making new commitments to expand students' pathways to green union jobs and work with local, state, and federal agencies to coordinate response to climate disasters, like the 2021 Marshall Fire which forced hundreds of Boulder students to evacuate their homes. Additionally, the Board is calling on Congress and President Biden to pass the Green New Deal for Public Schools Act, which was reintroduced in September by Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).

This victory comes as students around the country are turning up the pressure on politicians.

• In August, hundreds of high school students attended a week-long ‘summer camp’ training in rural Illinois to prepare them to launch campaigns
• In September, 150 students descended on then-Speaker McCarthy’s office to demand he avert a shut down and take action to protect young people from climate change.
• This past month, students in a dozen school districts from Philadelphia to Bozeman, MT have testified at school board meetings calling for a Green New Deal for their school district. Across Detroit, Chicago, and Washington DC, over 100 high school students have gathered for a day-long trainings to organize for the Green New Deal in their schools

“This is a project of our generation, and we're not gonna stop until every school across the country has a Green New Deal and the kind of schools we deserve." said Emma Weber, a student leader at Boulder Valley School District. “The Green New Deal for Schools is the kind of action and urgency that we need in order to address the climate crisis and prepare students to live with the realities of it.”