Oregon weighs whether all kids should get outdoor education

MOUNT HOOD NATIONAL FOREST, Ore. -- Each year, thousands of Oregon parents hug their children goodbye and send them tramping into the wilderness for up to a week to learn about their state's natural wonders.

The Outdoor School program was groundbreaking when it started more than a half-century ago.

Since then, more than 1 million children have enjoyed -- or endured -- this rite of passage at campsites scattered from Oregon's stormy coast to its towering evergreen forests to its rugged high desert.

At the program's heyday, 90 percent of sixth-graders spent the week testing water samples, studying fungi and digging through topsoil.

Today, just half of Oregon's 11- and 12-year-olds take part, mostly through a patchwork of grants, fundraising, parent fees and charitable donations.

In this Oct. 6 photo, Outdoor School students walk along a pond with jumping fish during a lesson at Camp Howard in Mount Hood National Forest near Corbett, Oregon. The outdoor education is unique to Oregon and is a rite of passage for public school students that's meant to instill a respect for nature in each generation. Studies show it improves attendance and boosts test scores. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

Caps on property taxes, plus the recent recession, have forced many school districts to scrap the program or whittle it down to just a few days.

Now, backers of a statewide ballot measure want to use a slice of lottery proceeds to guarantee a week of Outdoor School for all children.

If it passes, the measure would make Oregon the only state with dedicated funding for outdoor education, including students in charter, private and home schools, said Sarah Bodor, policy director for the North American Association for Environmental Education.

Opponents, however, say its passage would mean deep cuts to a state agency tasked with economic development by siphoning away millions in lottery money critical to expanding Oregon business.

And at least one outspoken state lawmaker worries Measure 99 would impose liberal Portland's values on children in rural Oregon where farming, mining, logging and fishing are a way of life.

In this Oct. 6 photo, towering fir trees reflect in the water as students collect pond samples for an Outdoor School lesson at Camp Howard in Mount Hood National Forest near Corbett, Oregon. The outdoor education is unique to Oregon and is a rite of passage for public school students that's meant to instill a respect for nature in each generation. Studies show it improves attendance and boosts test scores. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

The push to fund Outdoor School dovetails with a national trend toward outdoor learning, Bodor said. More than two dozen states have developed environmental-literacy plans as educators realize the importance of outdoor time for developing critical thinking and leadership skills, she said.

"But these are really unfunded mandates, and ... the outdoor component is the piece that very often gets left behind," Bodor said.

Measure 99 would cover that unfunded cost by taking up to $22 million -- or 4 percent a quarter -- from the state lottery's economic development fund to send 50,000 fifth- or sixth-graders to Outdoor School each year.

To get the funding, programs would have to meet certain criteria, including a curriculum that includes the study of plants, animals, soil and water; discussion of the role of natural resources in the state economy; and lessons on the relationship among economic growth, natural resources and conservation.

At a recent five-day camp in Mount Hood National Forest, sixth-graders from Portland's Jackson Middle School seemed unaware of the politics surrounding their adventure.

In this Oct. 6 photo, Outdoor School student Evie Larson studies a pond water sample to enter notes in her field study notebook during a lesson at Camp Howard in Mount Hood National Forest near Corbett, Oregon. The outdoor education is unique to Oregon and is a rite of passage for public school students that's meant to instill a respect for nature in each generation. Studies show it improves attendance and boosts test scores. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

As a light drizzle fell, they dipped nets into a fog-cloaked pond surrounded by stands of Douglas fir trees, sketched water bugs in notebooks and tested the water's acidity and turbidity as rainbow trout jumped just a few feet away.

"It's definitely better out here," said Maya Herring, 11. "You can actually feel the nature. It's not just saying, 'This is what this fern looks like.' You can actually feel the fern for yourself."