It’s the American ideal: a green lawn, neatly trimmed, and free of brown spots or blemishes. Like most American ideals, it comes at a high cost—unending weekends of fertilizing, mowing, and watering.

Summer may be over, but there’s a hot debate brewing that’s becoming more intense and thought provoking by the day, and it’s all about — grass? Yes, grass. As school districts look to resurface their ...