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Tucked quietly into the federal is a section that calls for establishing voluntary environmental-health and -safety guidelines for states to consult when locating and constructing schools, and authorizes grants for states to develop programs around those standards.

The measure, which President Bush signed into law last month, marks the first time that a federal agency will provide such guidance.

School board representatives offered differing views of the legislation, which directs the to write the guidelines.

The legislation takes the right approach, said Marc Egan, the director of federal affairs for the National School Boards Association, based in Alexandria, Va. 鈥淭he key phrase in that bill was that these are voluntary guidelines,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e definitely don鈥檛 want to see Congress issuing mandates for these issues.鈥�

鈥淎ny kind of research or sharing of best practices is something that districts and states can benefit from,鈥� Mr. Egan added.

Yet some school boards may feel that even voluntary guidelines impinge on local authority, said Erika K. Hoffman, the principal legislative advocate for the California School Boards Association.

鈥淓very state is different, and it鈥檚 not appropriate 鈥� to make a blanket statement,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he reality is that these are local funds [being spent on school construction]. They鈥檙e state funds, which are locally derived, 鈥� and [federal guidelines are] not appropriate.鈥�

Not Just Local?

Although the provision calls only for voluntary guidelines, Ms. Hoffman expressed concern that they could become regulations in the future.

Environmental advocates welcomed the legislation.

鈥淪chools have been treated in some ways as local,鈥� said Claire L. Barnett, the executive director of the Albany, N.Y.-based Healthy Schools Network, a children鈥檚 environmental-health advocacy group. 鈥淏ut when you have 120,000 school buildings with approximately 54 million children, and those buildings are falling apart, it鈥檚 hardly a local issue anymore.鈥�

The EPA will consult with the secretary of education, the secretary of health and human services, and other relevant federal agencies in writing the guidelines.

It鈥檚 too early to comment on the specifics of the EPA guidelines, said Shakeba Carter-Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the EPA.

Under the energy act鈥檚 鈥淗ealthy High-Performance Schools鈥� section, sponsored by Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., federal guidance for the siting of school facilities must be written within 18 months. It must take into consideration, the law says, the unique vulnerability of children to hazardous substances or pollution exposures, modes of transportation available to students and staff, the efficient use of energy, and the potential use of schools as emergency shelters.

鈥楤eyond the Toxic Issue鈥�

鈥淭his bill really broadens the concept of siting, beyond the toxic issue,鈥� Ms. Barnett said, referring to long-standing concerns about placement of schools on or near sites contaminated with toxins. It asks states to look at schools as the center of a community, she said, as well as taking into consideration the issue of transportation and suburban sprawl.

鈥淭he guidelines may help promote more schools within walking and biking distance,鈥� she said.

The provisions were introduced by Sen. Lautenberg to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works as part of the High Performance Green Buildings Act, and later adopted by the House and Senate as part of the overall energy bill. The provisions built on language from the No Child Left Behind Act that defined healthy, high-performance schools.

Federal guidelines on school health and environmental programs, which will be created under a separate provision from the one on school siting, must be established by the EPA within two years. The guidelines discuss environmental problems such as contaminants, hazardous substances, and pollutant emissions; lighting; ventilation; heating and cooling technologies; moisture control and mold; and acoustics.

Only five states have set guidelines on those matters, according to the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice, or CHEJ, an advocacy organization based in Falls Church, Va.

States and the federal government have been slow to establish environmental-health and -safety standards for schools, partly because of a lack of scientific data about the subject, said Lois M. Gibbs, the executive director of the center. Most research used to establish those standards is based on the average adult male, she said.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 apply the same rules as an adult human body to a growing, maturing, developing child,鈥� she said. 鈥淐hildren are biologically different than adults.鈥�

Poor Communities鈥� Needs

The EPA has also been asked to consider the special vulnerability of poor and minority communities to toxic exposure.

Low-income communities are particularly at risk for unsafe school facilities because of a lack of awareness surrounding the issue, and because 鈥渢he parents want the school so bad that they look the other way,鈥� said Bill Wolfe, the field director for the New Jersey chapter of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a Washington-based nonprofit group.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e afraid to make waves; otherwise [the school] may not be built at all,鈥� said Mr. Wolfe, who also spent 13 years as a policy analyst and planner for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

The federal law also authorizes $10 million over five years for a grant program to help states build environmental-health programs for schools.

States will be able to use the money to implement the EPA鈥檚 already-established IAQ Tools for Schools program, which aims to improve indoor-air quality, and the Healthy School Environments Assessment Tools program, a software package that helps districts evaluate their facilities.