More schools in Miami-Dade are turning to fake grass to carpet their outdoor areas, usually because it can be cheaper than keeping up with watering and mowing.
But Miami-Dade School Board member Joe Geller wants the District to weigh all costs, including hot the plastic can get and what that means for students’ health and the environment.
His newly introduced resolution calls for a “comprehensive review” of all available research and lifecycle costs of artificial turf, plus an advisory panel that includes students, health and environmental experts, who’d make recommendations to the superintendent.
The resolution would also pause new artificial turf installations in areas where that’s feasible, according to Geller’s office. It is scheduled to go before the School Board for the first time on Aug. 11.
“Decisions regarding surface materials should be guided by the best available scientific evidence and long-term financial considerations,” the resolution says.
The push follows advocacy from Michele Drucker, president of Florida Green Schools, who submitted a letter signed by more than 100 people to the board calling to stop installing fake grass and consider “Florida Friendly” landscaping that includes strategies like using native plants and preventing storm run-off. She called the resolution “a good start” and said the focus now is on “getting it over the finish line.”
Research has shown fake grass can get up to 90 degrees hotter than the real stuff. When the Herald tested the surface temperature of fake grass last summer, it was hotter than real grass every time. The pristine green fields of the Little Haiti Soccer Park, for example, got to 121 degrees, even after an afternoon storm.
Doctors have noted that 110 degrees is enough to cause a burn.
Marco Schiavon, an assistant professor at the University of Florida’s Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, said that fake grass contributes to the “urban heat island” effects that make our dense cities hotter than rural areas.
The resolution said the recommendations from the advisory panel would be presented at the Facilities and Construction Meeting of October 7, 2026.
Ashley Miznazi is a climate change reporter for the Miami Herald funded by the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation and MSC Cruises in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners.
