The DeKalb County Board of Education voted Thursday night to enter into an agreement with Johnson Controls to bring improve the energy efficiency of school properties.The board agreed to allow Johnson Controls to continue a study to seek out excessive areas of energy consumption and recommend improvements to these areas in order to cut consumption across the district.Johnson Controls representatives are to present a report on their findings detailing changes that need to be made.Joe Bond of Johnson Controls addressed the board at last week’s meeting, telling members that the price of making any changes advised by the study should be offset by the resulting savings in energy costs.Bond said that improvements could include new lighting systems, water conservation plans and upgrades to some HVAC systems, some of which have remained operational for almost 50 years.“We were able to come out and do a preliminary assessment a couple of months ago,” Bond told the assembly. “Our engineers came on site and spent a couple of days walking the buildings with your maintenance director and what we found was an opportunity to help upgrade the buildings with no extra tax dollars affected. This is money you are already spending today.