Cleaner air for every classroom starts with you.
Built for the parents, caregivers, and teachers who refuse to leave the air our kids breathe for eight hours a day to chance.
You're in the right place.
If you have ever stopped to wonder what your child, or the students in your care, actually breathe for eight hours a day, this toolkit was built for you.
Most of us check the weather, read food labels, and filter our drinking water without a second thought. Yet the air inside the average classroom, where kids spend most of their waking weekday hours, is almost never tested. This toolkit exists to change that. Inside you will find the research, the templates, the fundraising support, and the clean-air technology you need to speak up and make a real difference, whether you are a parent, a grandparent, a caregiver, or the teacher at the front of the room. Clean classroom air should not be a luxury. Let's make it the standard.
Austin Air is the only air purifier proven across decades of independent clinical trials.
Millions of kids spend their school day breathing air no one is testing.
Classrooms concentrate dozens of people, chemicals, and outdoor pollutants into one enclosed room for hours at a time. Here is what that air can carry, and why it matters more than most people realize. Tap any item to read more.
Eight hours a day in untested air
A typical student spends roughly eight hours a day in a classroom, and unlike food or water, that air is rarely monitored at all.
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Classroom air can hold a surprising mix of pollutants: VOCs that off-gas from industrial cleaners, plug-in air fresheners, new furniture, carpet, and building materials; microplastics, dust, mold, and pollen; and particulates drifting in from the carpool lane and diesel buses idling beside open doors and windows. Depending on the region it can also carry pesticides, smog, and wildfire smoke, alongside the everyday viruses and bacteria shared by a full room of students.
Millions of children have asthma & classrooms are full of triggers
Roughly 1 in 10 U.S. children has asthma, about 3 in every classroom of 30 kids, and the pollutants in classroom air are exactly what set it off.
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Dust, mold, pollen, smoke, and chemical fumes are common asthma triggers, and a poorly filtered classroom keeps them circulating. The children who don't have asthma aren't in the clear either: chronic exposure to indoor air pollutants raises the risk of developing it over time. (CDC asthma data)
This is the single loudest reason to keep a clinically proven purifier running in every room. See our clinical trials on asthma symptoms →
Dirty air may be making it harder for kids to focus
Chronic exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is significantly linked to a higher risk of attention problems and ADHD in children.
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In a nationwide study following more than 800,000 children, early-life exposure to traffic-related NO₂ and PM2.5 was associated with a measurably higher rate of ADHD diagnosis, even after accounting for family income and education. Cleaner indoor air removes a contributor that schools can actually control. (Study)
Every pollutant adds to a child's "body burden"
Airborne pollutants accumulate in the body, taxing a child's immune system and leaving them more vulnerable to the viruses and bacteria that sweep through classrooms.
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A heavier cumulative load can blunt the immune response, making colds, flu, and infections more likely, and in some children it can tip the other way, contributing to the overactive immune responses linked to allergies and autoimmune conditions. Reducing the daily exposure reduces the burden.
In rural and farm communities, pesticides drift indoors
The American Academy of Pediatrics warns that children are uniquely vulnerable to pesticides, and classrooms near agriculture can take them in through open or aging windows and doors.
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The AAP links early-life pesticide exposure to pediatric cancers, reduced cognitive function, and behavioral problems including ADHD. A 2015 analysis in the journal Pediatrics found that children exposed to indoor insecticides were significantly more likely to develop leukemia and lymphoma. There is no exposure level pediatricians consider beneficial for a developing child. (AAP policy statement)
Wildfire smoke doesn't stop at the lungs
The ultrafine particles in wildfire smoke and PM2.5 are small enough to slip past the lungs and reach the brain.
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Research on children and young adults in heavily polluted cities found that long-term exposure to fine and ultrafine particles was associated with brain inflammation, breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, and the buildup of proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease, beginning in childhood. As wildfire seasons intensify, indoor filtration is one of the few defenses a school controls. (Study)
Portable, proven air purifiers, already within reach.
The fix is not a building renovation. It is a medical-grade and military-grade Austin Air purifier in each classroom, quietly pulling pollutants out of the air kids actually breathe. Portable units work because they treat the room itself, continuously, rather than waiting on central HVAC that may run only part of the day.
The payoff shows up in learning. A widely cited natural experiment in Los Angeles found that adding air filters to classrooms raised math scores by about 0.20 standard deviations and English scores by 0.18, gains comparable to cutting class size by a third, at a fraction of the cost. (Coverage of the research)
And it shows up in health. Austin Air's own independent clinical trials documented reduced asthma symptoms and fewer asthma-related emergency room visits among children, results no other purifier brand can match. Read the clinical trials →
Why are schools putting purifiers in storage?
The evidence is clear, and yet most schools still aren't using the purifiers available to them. Worse, many districts that bought Austin Air units during the pandemic are not buying replacement filters. They are boxing the machines up and putting them in storage, or selling them off on sites like eBay, while asthmatic kids sit in those same rooms and another cold and flu season rolls in.
They have a clinically proven tool within arm's reach, one that could help students breathe and very likely learn better, and help teachers get through the day with fewer headaches, fewer allergy symptoms, and less fatigue. Instead of keeping it running, they are discarding it.
Picture a purifier proven to reduce children's asthma symptoms being wheeled out of a classroom that still has asthmatic kids in it. If that is your child or your student, that should make you angry, and it should make you speak up.
You don't have to accept it. This toolkit gives you everything you need to act.
Everything you need to advocate for clean air.
Clinical Trials
Austin Air is the only air purifier company with clinical trials run by institutions like Johns Hopkins and Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and we have outperformed 100+ other brands in government and third-party testing. The results prove our purifiers work, and that your school can rely on them to protect student and staff health.
Read Clinical Trials
The Types of Air Filters Matter
Not all air purifiers are created equal. Many filters fail to remove harmful pollutants, or worse, release harmful byproducts back into the air. This guide explains what makes medical-grade Austin Air filtration different, and why it is trusted in schools, hospitals, and research settings across the country.
Download the Comparison
Pre-Written Email Templates
Want to reach out to your school administrators but not sure what to say? We've got you. These professionally written, customizable templates make it easy to advocate for clean air in classrooms. It has never been simpler to take the first step and speak up.
Get the Templates
Austin Air Fundraising Opportunities
Worried about how to pay for purifiers? We've got you covered. Austin Air partners with schools to offer custom fundraising support, so families, PTAs, and communities can raise money to place high-performance purifiers in every classroom. Starting from scratch or need help organizing? We provide the tools, templates, and strategies to reach your goal.
Explore FundraisingSee Air Differently
Bring the science to life with our free virtual school assembly and classroom curriculum. Featuring doctors and professional athletes, See Air Differently helps students understand what they breathe, why it matters, and how clean air helps them feel and perform their best. It is engaging, age-appropriate, and ready to drop into your school day.
Clean-air videos for schools.
Short, shareable videos you can watch, forward to a principal or school board member, or post to your own social channels to help spread the word.
Have a question? Talk to a person.
Our team helps parents, teachers, and schools every day. Reach out and we will help you find the right next step.