Outdoor School Funding Update
July 24, 2025
An important update from our friends at Oregon State University Extension Service Outdoor School:
Funding decisions to date for 2025-2026
To preserve funding for core programming, we have made several difficult decisions to reduce expenses under a constrained budget.
OSU staffing reductions: Several OSU Extension Service Outdoor School Program staff positions have been eliminated to reduce administrative costs.
Reallocation of EDAI and Accessibility Program Improvement Grant funds: Several one-time grants, originally funded through COVID-era carryover dollars, have been closed. Remaining unused funds are being reallocated to support district programming directly.
Private school funding ineligibility: Private schools will not be eligible for outdoor school funding in 2025–2026. Public charter schools remain eligible for grants. Should funding be restored during the legislative process, we will re-evaluate this decision.
OSU project scope reductions and pauses: The statewide outdoor school legislation directs our office to provide training and program evaluation to support high-quality outdoor school programming in Oregon. In response to budget reductions, we have paused or reduced the scope of various projects. Despite these funding constraints, we remain committed to strategically implementing priority evaluation and professional development support in the 2025-2027 biennium.
Ongoing work & next steps
The changes described above are not sufficient to cover a $12 million reduction in the 2025-2027 biennium. To stay within our budget, we must reduce the amount of funding reimbursed to school districts for their outdoor school programs.
We are currently analyzing collected input from across the state to help shape these funding decisions:
Community input data analysis: Thank you to everyone who participated in the idea generation and feedback processes. Focus groups and surveys have been completed. We are currently analyzing the data and projecting the potential savings from each strategy ahead of the upcoming Advisory Committee meeting.
August Advisory Committee meeting: The Advisory Committee will meet in early August to review the data collected from focus groups and surveys and to offer recommendations for next steps.
Decision-making timeline: With consideration of the Advisory Committee’s recommendations, OSU Extension Service will finalize funding decisions and program priorities in August. While these funding decisions will shape the structure of district reimbursements, they do not restrict how schools, districts, or providers choose to design or implement their outdoor school programs.
We remain committed to ensuring that outdoor school is administered and supported to the greatest extent possible to keep the program thriving for current and future generations of students.
Thank you for all that you do to make outdoor school possible.
OSU Extension Service Outdoor School
KEY INFORMATION:
Oregon State University Extension Service Outdoor School:
Important financial and impact information directly from Oregon State University Extension Service Outdoor School can be found here and will be updated regularly.
What’s happened so far:
June 23rd: The Oregon Legislature approved a 20% cut to Outdoor School funding despite voters overwhelmingly supporting Measure 99 designating 4% of state lottery funds to Outdoor School.
June 16th: The Senate approved a bill including a $12 million cut to Outdoor School funding from current service levels.
June 6th: The Oregon Joint Committee on Ways and Means voted to pass a budget that cuts Outdoor School funding by $12 million. Watch for yourself- the work session on SB 5525 begins at 1:22.
June 2nd: The Oregon Joint Committee on Ways and Means subcommittee on Education passed a budget that cuts Outdoor School funding by $12 million. Watch for yourself.
What to include in your calls and emails:
Recognize the difficult budget environment
Emphasize that they honor the will of the voters, who overwhelmingly passed Ballot Measure 99 in 2016. THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT REMINDER!
Share why you think Outdoor School is important for Oregon kids.
Ask them to restore the $12 million cut
Include your full name and address