The Covid – 19 pandemic has raised awareness for the need to improve indoor air quality within our schools in an attempt to keep students in the classrooms, reduce the need for masking and enhance learning. The federal government determined that improved IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) was so important that through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, they issued 4.5 billion dollars to Ohio public schools in an attempt to make necessary improvements in their HVAC systems. The deadline to use these funds is September 30, 2024.

These funds, referred to as ESSER Funds (ESSER=Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief), were distributed to public schools districts in Ohio in an effort to improve building IAQ. This can be accomplished by increasing the ventilation rate of outdoor air, lowering CO2 and VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) levels and maintaining optimum indoor humidity levels.

The CDC has adopted as their indoor air requirements the ASHRAE 62.1 standard which calls for a minimum of 10-20 cfm of outdoor air per student.(ASHRAE stands for The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers  www.ashrae.org

Studies have indicated that student learning can be enhanced by lower indoor CO2 levels resulting from greater amounts outdoor (ventilation) air. The increase in learning resulted when 20-40 cfm per student was introduced into a building. (Link)

Air Control Products in concert with our manufacturers, engineering and contracting partners can assist school districts in identifying specific IAQ problems, developing an improvement plan and implement this plan through to completion