If your district has built its sustainable schools program around CHPS, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, you should prepare for CHPS Designed, Verified, and Verified Leader certifications to be sunset after June 30, 2027. For the many K-12 districts that have used CHPS as their green building framework for the past two decades, here’s how to navigate what comes next.
What the sunset means for districts
If you have projects currently registered with CHPS, you can still complete verification before the deadline. However, for any unregistered projects, including new construction, major renovations, or bond-funded work still in planning, the sunset means you’ll need to choose a new certification path.
For most, that decision is probably bigger than a technical swap. CHPS became a badge of honor for participating schools, demonstrating leadership in healthy, high-performing academic spaces. The program unified priorities from clean air to energy and water efficiency. The next framework needs to support administrators looking to keep district teams aligned on the same core priorities.
Green Globes: built on the same core priorities
Green Globes®, the whole building certification system administered by the Green Building Initiative (GBI), covers the same fundamental priorities that made CHPS effective for K-12 facilities: indoor air quality, energy performance, daylighting, and acoustics, alongside water efficiency, materials, and site sustainability.
Because of these shared principles, districts moving from CHPS to Green Globes won’t be forced to start from scratch. Your team already knows the playbook. Documentation, terminology, and technical expertise map directly to Green Globes, making the transition far easier than most teams anticipate.
Green Globes also fits the multiple project types most district are likely to have in the pipeline at once:
- New construction, through Green Globes New Construction (NC), targeting the same performance rigor CHPS Verified Leader projects were built around.
- Major renovations and modernizations, comparable to the scope CHPS Verified covered for existing buildings.
- Bond-funded capital programs, where a district needs one certification framework that is flexible across several project types over multiple years.
Already recognized alongside CHPS and LEED
Green Globes has a strong track record in K-12 settings and is already embedded in state program requirements alongside CHPS and LEED. Colorado offers a clear example: the Colorado Department of Education’s High Performance Certification Program, administered through the BEST capital construction program, recognizes three pathways for eligible school projects; CHPS Verified-Leader, LEED Gold, or Green Globes at the Three Green Globes level.
This established, state-level recognition means adopting Green Globes does not require state agenciesy or bond oversight committees to accept an unfamiliar standard.
What districts should be doing right now
- Audit your pipeline. Identify which projects are registered with CHPS and on track to complete before June 2027, versus those yet to begin.
- Check your state’s requirements. If your state’s school construction program names specific certification systems (as Colorado’s does), confirm which options are already recognized.
- Engage a certification provider early. Selecting a framework early ensures it shapes design decisions to support successful outcomes.
CHPS gave a generation of K-12 districts a shared framework for building healthier, higher-performing schools. While that specific certification is sunsetting, its core priorities remain essential. Green Globes shares this foundation and is already recognized in state programs where CHPS has operated for years. For districts weighing what comes next, it provides a proven and straightforward path forward.
Ready to explore what this transition looks like for your projects?
Speak with a specialist at GBI for a free consultation on your upcoming projects and timelines.