FORSAN — Like almost everyone else, school trustees here are looking for ways to save money on energy costs.

The Forsan Independent School District school board will consider hiring a firm to conduct an “energy audit” of the district when it holds its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Monday in the administration building board room.

FISD Superintendent Randy Johnson said the audit is Forsan's response to state guidelines urging districts to find a way to cut their energy costs by 5 percent over the next five years.

“We went out with requests for proposals on this matter a few months ago,” Johnson said. “Only one firm — Honeywell — has responded ... so it's likely the board will have them come in and do an energy audit to help us cut our costs some more.”

The problem, if there is one, is that FISD has already been highly proactive in saving energy costs, Johnson said. He pointed to recent renovations, such as a computer system that monitors and regulates utility systems on the different campuses.

“As part of the (2004) bond, we did a variety of things,” Johnson said. “We updated our (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) systems, we installed the computer system ... and we recently installed a special roofing material that reflects heat ... We're really stretching to find that extra 5 percent.”

Compounding the situation is that, as a result of the 2004 renovations, the district has significantly more square footage to heat or cool, which have caused energy costs to remain fairly stable, despite the savings.

“We feel like we've done the obvious things to cut costs,” Johnson said. “The job now is to dig deeper and try to find some of the not-so-obvious solutions.”

In other business Monday, trustees will consider:

• The district's financial audit from the Stanton firm of Stallings and Herm.

• Reports from campus principals and the superintendent.

• Personnel matters.

Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331 ext. 234 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it