Batesville School District in rural Arkansas had a $250,000 annual budget deficit. Then, it discovered it could save at least $2.4 million over a span of 20 years with clean-energy alternatives like solar.
It transformed an unused field into a solar energy farm and covered the front of its high school in 1,500 panels. It turned that annual deficit into a $1.8 million surplus, and the savings gave every teacher in the district up to a $15,000 pay raise.