Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools: Preventive Maintenance Guidance

This 140-page EPA guide shows school districts how to embed indoor-air-quality (IAQ) priorities into a comprehensive preventive-maintenance (PM) program that protects health, boosts learning and saves money. It organizes the work into four iterative steps—Make the Case, Develop Your Plan, Implement IAQ Technical Solutions, Evaluate—and supplies ready-to-use tools: a customizable IAQ PM checklist, equipment-inventory template, model schedules and a value-proposition worksheet. The guidance quantifies benefits: each dollar invested in preventive maintenance yields roughly four dollars in avoided repairs, while integrated IAQ and energy strategies helped Des Moines Public Schools cut building energy costs by up to 50 percent in renovated facilities. Case examples from Texas and Pennsylvania demonstrate how proactive IAQ PM can raise average daily attendance (and state revenue) for thousands of asthmatic students and nearly eliminate costly equipment breakdowns. Technical chapters detail HVAC upkeep, moisture control, green cleaning, integrated pest management, source control and energy-efficiency measures, emphasizing that deferred maintenance of ventilation systems elevates pollutants that trigger asthma, reduce concentration and depress test scores. Targeted to facility managers, business officers and superintendents, the guide provides a step-by-step playbook—plus financing tips—for launching or strengthening district-wide IAQ management while aligning with ASHRAE and ENERGY STAR best practices.