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How Coal Affects Teachers

Each day, many teachers struggle to educate and nurture their students with the very limited resources provided by local, state and national governments. Often, costs for schools are increasing without an equivalent increase in funding. Teachers, entrusted to educate our nation’s youth, are sometimes forced to sacrifice important aspects of education in order to remain within small budgets.

And new studies show that the presence of coal-fired power plants is eating into teachers’ budgets even more.

How are coal-fired power plants and educational costs related? An average 400 MW coal-fired power plant emits 220 pounds of mercury into the air. This toxic heavy metal has dramatic negative effects on human health, especially on the mental development of children. A recent study through the University of Texas Health Science Center showed that there may be a link between increased rates of autism and increased environmental mercury. They found that for every 1,000 pounds of mercury released into the air, there was a 43% increase in the rate of special education services and a 61% increase in the rate of autism.

Like all children, autistic children should have the right to a public education that can meet their needs. But providing this education is far from cheap. A government report published in January 2005 found that the average cost of educating an autistic child in a public school was more than $18,000 in the 1999-2000 school year. That cost is almost three times the cost of educating a child who does not need special education services. By some estimates, the cost of autism will increase to $200 - $400 billion annually by 2013.

Mercury polluters are not paying this extra cost. And most schools do not have enough money to simply absorb additional costs. Therefore, due to new construction and continued operation of coal-fired power plants, teachers must once again struggle to make ends meet in their classroom – sometimes at the cost of the high-quality education that we should be providing for all of our children.

First-rate education – not over-polluting power plants – should be our priority. It is possible and profitable to address growing energy needs in the West through renewable energy sources and energy efficiency measures.

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