The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) has provided school districts and their design teams with tools for building a new generation of high-performance schools since 2000. At the heart of the CHPS program is the CHPS Criteria, Volume III of the CHPS Best Practices Manual, which provides a stringent and comprehensive standard for high performance schools.

The Criteria is updated every three years, concurrent with the updates to California’s Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24). The 2009 Edition of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) Criteria will soon be out for public review and CHPS is seeking public comment on the updated Criteria. The drafts for public comment will be available at this address on the CHPS website in early June 2008:

The comment period is forty-five days. Some of the exciting developments for the 2009 Criteria include new credits for designing for deconstruction and adaptability; siting for school gardens; net-zero energy schools; providing safe routes to schools; innovative water management strategies; limits on mercury and other health hazards; and life-cycle assessment of building materials.

For more information, visit "http://www.sustainablefacility.com/cgi-bin/ntlinktrack.exe?http://www.chps.net.