In June 2025, the Oregon Legislature chose to cut Outdoor School funding by 20% ($12 million). Despite enduring painful cuts, school staff, Outdoor School programs and sites, OSU Extension Service Outdoor School, and Friends of Outdoor School are working to protect Outdoor School for Oregon kids. Unfortunately, it is the kids’ experience that is affected the most by these cuts, as these educators attest:

“It usually takes a few days for students to get acclimated, so the shortened timeframe made students miss out on the part of ODS when they had gotten comfortable.” - Principal

“The biggest and most significant impact was to move from a full week experience to a 3 night experience for our students.  Many students and staff said that it felt so much shorter and wished everyone had more time.  I think there was less of an emotional bond to the experience due to the reduction in days.” - Principal

“You cannot make this program any shorter. So much of ODS is about connection & growth with the environmental learning. These combined is the magic of ODS.” - Teacher  

With the help of donors and advocates, we stopped additional funding cuts during the 2026 legislative session, created a meaningful Outdoor School experience for students, and convinced the Higher Education Coordinating Commission to include full Outdoor School funding in their proposed 2027-2029 budget.