In recent years, schools have been forced by rising costs and shrinking budgets to stretch their resources further than ever before in order to meet the educational needs of today's students. Energy costs continue to rise, placing unprecedented stress on limited funds. In fact, K-12 schools in the United States spend more than $8 billion every year on energy costs alone--an amount exceeding that spent on textbooks and technology combined. Yet as much as 30 percent of energy consumed in schools is wasted by inefficient practices and unmaintained or poorly calibrated equipment. Launched in 2011, the U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) recognition award was designed to honor public and private elementary, middle and high schools for their excellence in health, facilities and environment achievements. After receiving input from federal agencies, state education agencies, national and local nonprofits as well as schools and sustainability experts, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) rolled out the criteria for the award in September 2011. Thus began a whirlwind pilot year in which over 30 state education agencies nominated schools by the following March. At the state level, ED-GRS implementation teams also took collaboration to new heights for the benefit of their students. Whether a facilities, health or STEM office initially took the lead in program implementation, nearly every state connected with offices expert in these areas, and also counterpart state agencies. In the coming years, people will be looking at how they can scale up the strides of ED-GRS without becoming unwieldy. Rather than recognizing hundreds of schools each year, they might look at ways of shining a spotlight on the good work being done in the areas of facilities, health and environment at the district level, where programs stand to impact even more students.