Please assist us in developing a budget for 2023-24 related to Overnight Outdoor Educational Experiences (Outdoor School) for 5th/6th graders attending Washington state public, public charter, or tribal schools and secure your funding for reimbursement for outdoor school.
Any funding is dependent upon approval of the 2023-25 biennial budget. You can always check the progress on the two bills (ESSB 5187 (passed the Senate floor, starting on page 401) and PSHB 1140, still in committee, starting on page 429)
No decisions/allocations will be able to be processed until the governor signs the budget in May. It is our hope to notify all schools that request by mid-June (at the latest).
The funding is limited. Our request is to fund your school's program robustly but we may only be able to fund a portion of your expenses. Our first priority, per the bill, is to serve highly impacted schools with more finances. But we will attempt to maximize the amount of support to every school. We will communicate to all requesting schools by the end of JUNE 2023 for the first round of funding support.
If you are a district representative entering data for multiple schools in your district (more than 3), please submit your information using this document. Please submit the spreadsheets by May 5, 2023.
Requests will be accepted for either 5th or 6th-grade students for each school. We do not have a budget to support schools sending both grades from one school. High school students serving as counselors/near-peer mentors are also funded for their work with the 5th/6th graders.
We will continue to accept 23-24 funding requests until funds are entirely reserved/spent. The second approval window will be based on the remaining funds after the June allocations are confirmed.