Funding for 5th/6th grade Outdoor School in Washington State began during the 2022-23 school year following the passage of House Bill 2078.
The Washington School Principals’ Education Foundation (WSPEF) was selected by the Office of Superintendents of Public Instruction (OSPI) to manage and distribute the funds to public schools.
To do so efficiently, WSPEF created a program called Outdoor Schools Washington (OSWA) and established procedures and systems to equitably distribute funds to schools so that students could safely and smoothly attend outdoor school. Since the original passage of the bill, tens of thousands of students from all corners of Washington State have attended Outdoor School at one of more than 40 recognized providers.
Below is an infographic that explains how the annual funding process works:
