Education reform, besides focusing on teaching and learning, must also address the need to maintain a safe, secure, and healthy school environment. As outlined in "A New Compact for Learning," the New York State Education Department and New York educators are responsible for ensuring the safety of school buildings. Students in school buildings are not covered by the laws that regulate the health and safety of workplace environments. Also, there are no provisions in law for a parent's or student's "right to know" about hazardous conditions in their school environment. The Regents Advisory Committee on Environmental Quality in Schools was created to develop recommendations for policy and action to improve the environmental quality of schools. This document presents an overview of the environmental quality of schools in New York and committee recommendations. The introduction presents an overview of conditions in school buildings that threaten students' health: asbestos, electromagnetic fields, hazardous materials, indoor air quality, lead, pesticides, and radon. The second section provides information about the Regents Advisory Committee and its members. Section 3 offers the committee's 16 detailed recommendations for meeting environmental standards in public schools. Appendices contain: (1) a legal analysis by the State Education Department Office of Counsel and appropriate sections of education law governing environmental health issues; (2) the legal and fiscal implications of the proposals of the Regents Advisory Committee on Environmental Quality in Schools prepared by the State Education Department; (3) an October 1993 report on environmental quality in schools; and (4) a summary of recommendations derived from public hearings on the environmental quality of schools. (LMI)