The Pilot Point ISD school board approved an energy efficiency plan that could save utility costs for years to come at the Sept. 10 meeting.
Dr. Brant Perry, executive director of administrative services and operations, introduced Ideal Impact—a company that specializes in improving energy effi ciency in schools and churches based on HVAC systems and general energy costs.
“We’ve been engaged in basically a year-long relationship with Ideal Impact, just analyzing and looking at our energy costs,” he said, noting the program offers guaranteed savings with no upfront cost to the district.
Noah Hines, representative for Ideal Impact, explained that they have conducted a free, nonbinding analysis this year of PPISD facilities.
Over the past year, they’ve had a team onsite looking at every piece of equipment and every building.
Hines said PPISD is spending about $350,000 on energy costs annually.
Ideal Impact’s plan is to cut that bill by more than 47% to just over $150,000.
Hines recommended an “80/20 plan” to pay for the plan.
In that payment model, PPISD would pay 80% of their annual savings to Ideal Impact and keep 20%. This way “you only pay as the savings actually occur, so you’re always spending less than you were before,” Hines said.
For PPISD, that would be $131,000 until it’s paid off, which is $587,000 in total.
That would pay off the project fee in about 4–6 years, according to Ideal Impact.
The project includes equipment replacement and upgrades, as well as full weatherization of all the buildings to reduce infiltration of outside air.
They also monitor each unit for a year after the project, tracking how they respond temperature-wise to the outside weather, minute by minute.
Board members raised several concerns during the discussion.
Some questioned how the contract terms would hold up if projected savings fell short and whether there were exit options.
Others worried about teachers los- ing control over classroom temperatures, noting that comfort levels vary widely among staff and students.
“Not having any control over the environment and having to call a third party to adjust comfort levels for the people I’m serving is a problem,” trustee Amy McEvoy said.
Trustees also questioned why school districts must rely on third-party companies for energy rate negotiations rather than receiving fair rates directly from providers.
After the discussion, the board voted 6–1 to approve the agreement with Ideal Impact.
Superintendent Dr. Shannon Fuller reported on the district’s growth, noting that enrollment rose from 1,676 students on the first day of school to 1,731 by mid-September.
“We have grown by more students just over the summer than we grew all of last year, so we are definitely staying in an uptick in our enrollment,” Fuller said.
Perry also provided an update on recent facility repairs and improvements at the high school and middle school campuses.
“The 2025 bond is over, but the operations department still has a lot of work to do in the district to continue to stay repaired for the new school year,” Perry said.
He reported that damage to the track caused during a spring storm, when speakers flew from the press box, has been repaired.
Bleachers damaged by the storm and speaker debris were also fixed.
The asphalt between Pilot Point Middle School and the Early Childhood Center was also repaired.
Additional repairs addressed water damage to walls and ceilings as well as other aesthetic fixes with the help of PPISD’s custodial company, EFI.
“We did a much-needed detailed scrubbing—the new furniture, the new paint, the new walls,” Perry said. “It looks really fresh.”
Jason Pool also spoke during the public comment section about his concerns related to the district following UIL lightning pro-Noah tocol.
