A new University of Michigan study in the journal Health Affairs finds 62% of public schools in the state are located in places with high levels of air pollution from industries.
Paul Mohai is one of the study’s authors.
“Often schools are located in more polluted parts of their respective school districts.”
He says schools need a lot of land... and land is expensive but money is tight.
“There’s probably quite an economic pressure to put schools where land values are low, and those may be near highways or industrial facilities or that otherwise are polluted.”
Mohai says Michigan has no formal policy that requires school boards to consider the environmental quality of an area for a new school.
William Mayes is the executive director of the Michigan Association of School Administrators. He says school boards do consider pollution when they’re finding new sites for schools.
“You know, intelligent people are thinking about this. The bottom line is you look at where your community is expanding, where your community is growing, and you seek the most economical and safe property you can to build a school.”
Mayes says people are drawn to where the jobs are, and that’s often near industries, and industries pollute.
