HVAC Guidance for Schools, PPP Tool, School Leaders Push Back on Politics

Jul 21, 2020, 12:41 PM

(from ASHRAE) The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has released guidelines for schools to help designers retrofit and plan for the improvement of indoor air quality and to slow the transmission of viruses via the HVAC systems. The underlying effort of the designer should be to increase outside air to the spaces and treat return air. The designer should also be concerned with mechanical filtration of the supply air and maintaining indoor comfort as defined by the design temperature and relative humidity. This guidance should be applied to each unique climate zone, unique school building and HVAC system.

(from Accounting Today) The American Institute of CPAs and its business and technology arm, CPA.com, released a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness platform, PPPForgivenessTool.com, which automates the forgiveness process for small business owners who have received funds from the PPP. The platform is available to any business that has been approved for a PPP loan, regardless of lender. The PPP applicant will be able to electronically sign the 3508 or 3508 EZ forms (PPP loan forgiveness application firms), and all the required source documents will also be included in a downloadable file that can be provided to their lenders. The goal is to save businesses time by automating most of this process.

Before using this tool, however, schools should discuss it with their lender. "Our understanding from talking to bankers is that each bank will have its own portal which may require the applicant do the whole process over again with the bank," said David D. Schriver, Jr., CPA, of Ellin & Tucker.

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(from the Washington Post) President Trump this month launched an aggressive campaign to return children to school full time, threatening to withhold federal funding from schools that do not comply — which he does not have the power to do — and lashing out against his own public health agency’s school guidelines. Reopening schools is seen as a linchpin to restarting the economy, making it a crucial part of his reelection bid. But he’s encountering pushback even in places where he won handily in the 2016 election. In some states where governors have followed Trump's lead, superintendents are refusing to set aside public health recommendations. Some Republican lawmakers are looking to tie school funding to school reopenings in the next coronavirus bill.