-Schoolyards are hot and getting hotter, but only a tiny fraction of California's grade school students can play in the shade.

-Many students across California are going to school every day in campuses that are essentially no different than asphalt parking lots.

-On a typical 90 degree day under full sun, grass can reach 95 degrees, while asphalt can hit 150 degrees.

That's according to research by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation.

-As Californians, we have all experienced that feeling of getting out of your car and just baking in asphalt.

-Researchers and advocates such as LA based Tree People are pushing the state to allocate more money for green schoolyards, which can include planting trees, grass or gardens in place of asphalt or rubber surfaces found at most schools.

-It's critical because only 5% of schools across the state of California have green canopy or green coverage, and we know that's a huge challenge up and down the state.

-Elementary schools are some of the schools that have the worst problems with extreme heat and asphalt.

A lot of these schools have no lawns, no trees, no grass at all.

We are trying to bring to every one of these campuses a grass field, lots of shade trees, lots of plant dig.

We're trying to bring trees where the students spend the most time, like outside of where they eat lunch, where they wait for dismissal, where they play, where they're on their track.

-So far, 164 schools are on their way to either designing or building green schoolyards with the help of state grants.

However, there are more than $350 million in funding requests from schools hoping to get their projects built.

Some environmental groups are pushing for a proposed climate bond that would include $350 million for the program.

For CalMatters, I'm Alejandra Reyes-Velarde.