In October 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published Voluntary Guidelines for States: Development and Implementation of a School Environmental Health Program. These voluntary guidelines were developed to provide states with a framework for establishing, implementing, and sustaining programs that address a wide range of environmental health issues found in K-12 school settings.

To build state capacity to establish school environmental health programs, EPA awarded grants to five states to assist in developing and implementing the basic elements of a state school environmental health program, including standards and guidance, a steering committee, measures to assess progress, communication and outreach, and resources. In addition, states needed to demonstrate how the activities funded by the grants would build capacity to ensure that the school environmental health programs were sustained beyond the grant period. Grantees were asked to use EPA’s Voluntary Guidelines for States to implement their state programs.

The purpose of this addendum is to share the best practices and lessons learned by the five state grantees with other states and school decision-makers to encourage their adoption of school environmental health programs, and to lend guidance for maintaining existing programs for years to come. This addendum walks through each of the six steps for establishing a school environmental health program and offers tips, strategies, and real-world examples based on the experiences of the five state grantees.