New York Program

With the country’s third-largest K-12 public education system, New York State is a special focus of our work.

Supported by a broad-based coalition led by Healthy Schools Network, New York State has adopted environmental reform policies embodied in the five-point, child-centered Guiding Principles for Improving School Environmental Quality. Since our founding in 1995, Healthy Schools Network has worked to secure new laws, funding, and regulations to promote healthier school environments, including testing for lead in school drinking water, measures for occupant health in schools under renovation, notice of pesticide use, bans on arsenic and elemental mercury, and an executive order requiring all state agencies and public and private schools to use green cleaning products.

Our Campaigns

• Healthy and High Performance School Design
   
• Green Cleaning and Healthy Products
   
• Eliminating Toxics
   
• Children's Environmental Health Services

Recent Issues

• COVID and Climate ready K-12 Schools 

• Lead in School Drinking Water (2016 and 2021 state laws)
   
• Healthy & High Performance School Design
   
• Tracking Children's Environmental Health at School
   
• Hydrofracking Ban Near Schools and School Drinking Water Sytems