Each spring/summer, a district submits a single application for funding for the upcoming school year. This single district application includes requests for funds for all schools within the district that plan to participate in outdoor school. We have created a tool to help schools estimate their outdoor school costs prior to submission of the district’s outdoor school application. This tool is intended to:
Outdoor school costs are requested and reported in four categories: Personnel/Stipends, Provider Fees, Program Costs, and Unreimbursed Transportation Costs. This document is intended to help districts estimate their outdoor school costs prior to filling out their annual funding application. Outdoor school costs are requested and reported in per-student dollars for each school. Additional information about allowable and prohibited expenses is available on the Oregon State University (OSU) Extension Service Outdoor School Budget Categories and Fiscal Policies webpage. Please contact your regional coordinator or outdoorschool@oregonstate.edu with any questions about the information in this document.
Note: If a school is planning multiple different outdoor school programs in the same school year (for example, different 5th grade classes are using different outdoor school providers), please complete separate estimates for each program. Contact your regional coordinator or outdoorschool@oregonstate.edu for more information about how to complete applications for multiple programs within the same school.
If the answer to any of the following questions is “yes,” estimate the related costs. If necessary, convert a cost to per-student dollars by dividing the cost by the number of students who will attend outdoor school. The per-student costs from this section will be entered into your outdoor school application in the Personnel/Stipends category.
For schools that utilize an outdoor school provider, the per-student fee charged by the provider should include housing, food, and activity costs if those items are billed through the provider. Use the following questions as you estimate provider costs. If necessary, convert costs to per-student dollars. The per-student costs from this section will be entered into your outdoor school application in the Provider Fees category. If your district/school does not use an outdoor school provider (in other words, the district/school develops, organizes, and runs its own program), you will not enter any costs into Provider Fees.
Costs incurred by the district that do not fit into one of the three other categories are categorized as Program Costs. If the answer to any of the following questions is “yes,” estimate the related costs. If necessary, convert costs to per-student dollars. The per-student costs from this section will be entered into your outdoor school application in the Program Costs category.
The OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program will reimburse the district for the portion of bus costs not covered by the Oregon Department of Education. Use the following questions as you estimate transportation costs. If necessary, convert costs to per-student dollars. The per-student costs from this section will be entered into your outdoor school application in the Unreimbursed Transportation Costs category.
If you have any questions about outdoor school applications, please get in touch! You can reach your Regional Coordinator or email our team at outdoorschool@oregonstate.edu.