For many towns across the US, high school sports are the center of the community. So, when schools upgrade their sports arenas with modern amenities, those changes are felt (and appreciated) far and wide.

Whitehouse ISD in north Texas experienced that firsthand after completing a district-wide LED retrofit in its gyms and outdoor fields before the 2022 school year.

“It’s a tight-knit community that is serious about supporting their young people,” said Whitehouse ISD’s Athletic Director Don Newton. “Our experience this year at our five home games was operating at max capacity for four of those games. Our community spirit was definitely felt, from our cheer to the drill team and the band, all the way down.”

But beyond community engagement, what other benefits do schools see from investing into athletics? And why should school districts fund athletic facility improvements when there are so many priorities competing for budget dollars? As school districts look for ways to add more value to their communities, state-of-the-art athletic facilities often fit the bill in many tangible ways.

Incorporating more play brings year-round student engagement benefits

In the wake of pandemic-driven isolation and educational disruption, schools are still struggling to boost students’ social-emotional learning skills and reengage them with learning. Mental health researchers have found that more than 4 in 10 (42%) students feel persistently sad or hopeless and nearly one-third (29%) experienced poor mental health.

In response to seeing this national mental health crisis play out in their schools, school leaders are turning to athletics and other extracurricular activities as the antidote. This is line with the trend of educators increasingly taking a more holistic approach that recognizes the importance of fun, non-traditional learning opportunities as integral to creating better student engagement inside the classroom.

“Social-emotional learning happens naturally in a physical education or sports setting,” said Dan Dejager, a physical education teacher in Fair Oaks, CA, in a recent interview with Education Week. “Students are working together on a team, learning those teamwork skills, learning how to be a leader, when it’s time to be a leader, learning how to be respectful of one another.”

The success of this approach can be seen across the country. For example, since Baltimore City School System launched Project Rampart, an athletic facility improvement initiative designed to “improve academic outcomes through the power of sport,” students who participated in sports all four years of high school had a graduation rate of 98.5%, while students who did not participate in any sport had a graduation rate of 62.9%.

Participation in high schools sports can also have positive lifelong ramifications. According to studies compiled by the Aspen Institute, high school athletes are less likely than non-athletes to experience mental health problems like anxiety and depression in adulthood. They are also more likely to go to college and experience higher levels of self-esteem.

It’s clear that athletics are an essential piece of the educational puzzle. As the educational landscape changes, schools must evolve their athletics environments alongside it. That means investing in climate-controlled, dedicated, modern spaces that allow students to play year-round and schools to provide a reliable venue rain or shine. Students and parents can count on safe and reliable practice schedules, and an after school place to go and achieve better long-term outcomes.

Modern athletics facilities improve energy and maintenance savings

But how are schools funding their athletic program visions? While the value of great athletics facilities may be clear, the cost of realizing that value can seem unattainable. Especially since school pools, gyms, fields, and stadiums often have the biggest backlogs of deferred maintenance.

Fortunately, those same pitfalls make athletic facilities a great candidate for two alternative funding sources: Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) and government grants.

ESPCs: It’s a no-brainer that school districts often utilize Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) to finance athletics upgrades. ESPCs allow schools to convert their outdated athletic facility portfolio into massive sources of energy savings—which can in turn be reinvested into other needs.

Gilbert Public Schools is one school that took the ESPC route. The sprawling Arizona district upgraded to LED lighting in 17 gymnasiums and at all of their high school football fields, reducing energy usage by 60%. The result: the district leveraged an initial investment of just $257,000 into more than $13 million in lifetime energy and maintenance savings.

“This project is a great illustration of how a long-term vision and an energy initiative can work together,” Bonnie Betz, Assistant Superintendent at Gilbert Public Schools. “We identified a multi-school project that not only modernized spaces that are highly visible to our community but also produced a strong financial payback.”

Regional and Federal Grants: Districts may be more used to outside athletic program funding coming from corporate donors or parent booster clubs. But a wide variety of state and federal grants aimed at energy efficiency, water conservation, and student impact are also available options.

Charter Oak Unified School District put California’s Prop. 39 to good use, securing more than $1.2 million in funding to upgrade to more energy efficient lighting district-wide, including the school’s outdated stadium lighting. The new pro-quality, ultramodern Musco LED lighting fixtures now better reflect the community’s avid support for their local teams. LEDs also use 30 percent less energy with a lifespan of over 20 years, saving the district more than $50,000 annually in energy and maintenance costs.

Remaining ESSER II and III funding can also still be allocated to HVAC improvements, which can increase year-round usability of athletic environments. St. Joseph School District in Missouri recently leveraged over $10 million in ESSER funds to replace end-of-lifecycle HVAC systems in its auditoriums, gyms and libraries. The project also drove major energy cost reductions that can be reinvested into the district. The result: increased school pride from both students and local residents, as well as improved learning environments that are now inviting places to gather all year.

Community engagement reaps budgetary impacts for school districts

Public school enrollment is declining, with up to a 6% decrease by 2030 according to federal estimates, and open-enrollment policies are becoming more common. And since most districts’ funding is calculated, in part, based on student enrollment, schools are now having to think critically about how to attract and maintain attendance for the first time. Athletic facilities are a great avenue to solve this challenge. Athletic facilities are highly visible representations of the school district to the public at large and are often the lens through which the community gauges a district’s leadership.

In states like Wisconsin with school open-enrollment policies, school district athletic directors are embracing the role athletics programs play in the school selection process. "I would love to tell you that high schools aren't in a position where they have to keep up with the Joneses next door, but I think everybody understands that school shopping is now (common)," said athletics director Scott Raduka of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. "We just saw a study when couples come in with a young family, the first thing (that matters to choosing a location) is housing and the second thing is schools, so we have to have our stuff together."

Schools in Texas, where “Friday night lights” are taken especially seriously, are seeing the reputational impact of modern, updated athletic environments. After Whitehouse ISD installed professional quality stadium lighting, Newton reported, “The emails I get from other communities saying, ‘Man that environment was great.’ Particularly our junior high football games with our band, drill, and cheer is super impressive to other folks.”

Scurry-Rosser ISD, another small district in Texas, has also seen firsthand how renovations and upgrades have had a positive impact on community support. The improvement of recreational facilities across the district allowed for year-round usage of the gymnasiums, archery building, and football field. Previously, the notoriously hot Texas weather often prevented students from safely using these facilities. The project also upgraded the football field at Scurry-Rosser High School with professional, LED stadium lights and artificial turf.

After the updates, students are now receiving recognition from their peers as the reputation of the new-and-improved district has made waves on social media. “Now that everybody is sharing pictures of our new track or all these new improvements, I tell them where I’m from and they’re like ‘oh, yeah, Scurry, I remember that,’” a local middle schooler said.

“I'm most proud that we were able to be fiscally sound and create a great feeling within the community,” said Scurry-Rosser’s superintendent James Sanders. “The school board, administration and parents all love these kids and we want to make their learning experience even better.”

A beacon of pride for the school and community

There can be a negative perception about the funding that is allocated to athletics, but their overall value to students and communities is immeasurable. Modern, energy efficient sports facilities help boost student engagement, improve learning outcomes, and substantially benefit school district budgets.

“Even as school budgets tighten, I hope we won’t give in to whatever calls come to cut school-based athletics,“ said Patrick Burke, principal of South Burlington High School. “[Sports] are an important way that a school serves students… In my view, those who consider responding to a crisis by mothballing or eliminating school-based athletic programs are shortening the reach of schools. And they are doing so just when that reach needs to be longer.”

Schneider Electric partners with schools across the country to find creative solutions to fund their district’s goals. To learn more about how Schneider Electric can help your school district achieve its vision, download our guide Transforming Schools for the Future: A Guide to Funding Your Vision.