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At a time when the state of Hawaii faces an $800 million budget deficit, officials from the education department informed legislators it would cost $1.5 billion to air condition all of Hawaii’s public schools.

That figure alone exceeds the department’s entire operating budget of roughly $1.4 billion (which does not include the approximately $333 million budgeted for capital improvements).

The topic only took up a single page in the department’s before the Hawaii Senate , but it evoked dismayed and even amusing reactions from the legislators.

“Regarding the schools’ air conditioning, have you updated your list of the top 10 or top 20 schools to get air conditioning next?” Sen. Will Espero asked Randy Moore, the assistant superintendent of School Facilities and Support Services. “What type of system do we have to get air conditioning in those schools, or do we just have a list to keep people happy?”

It costs between $3 million and $10 million to get air conditioning in a Hawaii school, depending on the size of the school, Moore said, so what schools get A/C and when depends on the Legislature.

“What we do is dependent on the appropriation we get for the heat abatement line item,” he said, acknowledging that it’s unrealistic to expect the Legislature to fund air conditioning on such a large scale right now, or any time in the foreseeable future.

To those of us in the room, Moore’s point was clear: Don’t expect air conditioning in all of Hawaii’s public schools anytime soon.

Moore followed the air conditioning announcement on a more serious note with a discussion of energy-saving initiatives, which may ultimately make air conditioning a more affordable possibility for schools.