Report: Department of Energy delays funding for energy efficiency work in public schools

In 2022, after President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Congress set aside funds created by the law for a grants program at the Department of Energy that would help public schools perform energy efficiency improvements.

Thanks to the strong labor standards included in the infrastructure law, that program — titled Renew America’s Schools — helped put SMART members to work across the country, taking on energy efficiency jobs in places like Alabama and Oregon.  

And by law, the grant funding and resulting job opportunities for SMART members are supposed to continue through the end of the 2026 fiscal year. Each year since fiscal year 2022, Congress appropriated funding to the Department of Energy to carry out the Renew America’s Schools program. Just like other years, the DOE announced a third round of funding opportunity in fiscal year 2025. Submissions from school districts were due on April 3, 2025.

However, following President Trump’s January executive orders regarding funds from the infrastructure law, the DOE delayed funding awards to conduct a review for alignment with the new administration’s policies. So far, it is unclear whether the Department of Energy has resumed committing FY 2025 funds for the program.

So, what does that all mean?

It means that as of January 2025, schools aren’t getting the funds they need to improve their facilities, and SMART sheet metal members are losing out on potential work.

“For the last few years, sheet metal workers have done energy efficiency work at public schools across our country, thanks in large part to this program,” said SMART General President Michael Coleman. “The Renew America’s Schools program is just common sense. It makes schools better, it benefits kids and teachers, and it helps SMART members support themselves and their families.”

“It doesn’t matter who you voted for — I can’t think of anyone who wanted this program, which already has money set aside for it, to be paused,” he added.

Governmental Accountability Office finds DOE violated federal law

The United States Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) is a nonpartisan institution that, according to its website, “provides Congress, the heads of executive agencies, and the public with timely, fact-based, non-partisan information that can be used to improve government and save taxpayers billions of dollars.” Part of that role includes protecting Congress’s “power of the purse,” a phrase that refers to the Constitution laying out that Congress has authority over government spending.

Unless Congress has passed a law that changes how funding is distributed, the GAO noted in its report, executive branch officials and agencies like the Department of Energy need to follow through on awarding appropriated funds when funding is made available. That’s what “power of the purse” means in practice.

“The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA) allows the President to withhold funds from obligation, but only under strictly limited circumstances and only in a manner consistent with that Act. The ICA was enacted to ensure that legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President is faithfully executed,” the GAO wrote. 

“We find that DOE violated the ICA,” the office added. “Considering that the funds were withheld for policy reasons and the uncertainty of whether DOE has or will resume obligating FY 2025 funds for the Schools Program, we conclude DOE violated the ICA when it delayed the obligation of FY 2025 Schools Program funds.”

In other words, it’s not just the fact that funding for the Renew America’s Schools program is in no man’s land, taking potential SMART jobs with it. According to the GAO, the Department of Energy is actually violating federal law by delaying those funds.

“There’s really no good reason for this funding to be delayed,” General President Coleman concluded. “It’s bad for our schools, our kids and our educators, and it’s bad for our members. We hope President Trump will stand up for SMART members and make sure his Department of Energy awards funding through the Renew America’s Schools program.”