Budget categories and fiscal policies
The Oregon State University (OSU) Extension Service Outdoor School program expects participating districts to adhere to standard accounting, procurement, and contracting policies. This includes, but is not limited to, dividing costs into two broad classifications:
Direct costs
Direct costs are the costs for activities or items associated with the Outdoor School program. Districts will report these costs within four categories:
- Personnel and stipends
- Provider fees
- Unreimbursed transportation costs
- Program costs
We provide examples of allowable and prohibited costs for each of these budget categories in the tabbed sections.
A reasonable adult to student ratio should be designed in collaboration with the district and the provider and consider the needs of students. If a school anticipates a ratio higher than 8:1, they should provide details in the application or contact their regional coordinator. The personnel expenses and stipends are the district or school's costs to pay in-house staff (employees that the district pays payroll taxes for) or contractors who help with outdoor school program set-up and attendance. This could include college students, teacher’s aides, translators, nurses, or one-on-one aides.
The OSU Outdoor School program will reimburse pay that is:
- not covered by other sources, or
- for outdoor school work-time outside of normal school and sleeping hours.
For example, within a 24-hour day, we subtract:
- seven hours for the school day, and
- eight hours for sleep
- leaving nine hours as the largest possible reimbursement requested.
Of those nine hours, the district should invoice only the hours worked. This also assumes the district funds the seven-hour school day through other sources.
The district's personnel expenses and stipends can include:
- gross wages,
- payroll taxes,
- health insurance,
- retirement benefits,
- accrued leave liability, and
- workers' compensation insurance.
The district's invoice can include staff time spent on planning and attending outdoor school and preparing the final Outdoor School program report when these tasks are performed outside the seven-hour day paid by the district.
The district's invoiced costs can include pay for substitutes if the substitute:
- oversees students who did not attend outdoor school.
- covers classes of a teacher attending outdoor school.
- attends outdoor school as a required chaperone or educator.
The personnel and stipend category does not cover the cost of:
- volunteers,
- parents,
- personnel who perform the function of bookkeepers, accountants, or administrative service staff,
- audit services,
- tax preparation, or
- tax/corporate filing fees.
Provider fees are fees paid to an outdoor school provider if the school or district contracts a provider-based outdoor school experience. The provider’s per-student fee should include housing, food, and activity costs.
The district should include costs for chaperones to attend outdoor school in provider costs category. The district should divide the total cost (including chaperone costs) by the number of students attending to the per-student cost.
Districts are encouraged to compare provider's costs and services to ensure due diligence and students needs are met.
Districts should verify that the provider's costs are of fair market value by gathering quotes from two or more suppliers with similar programs.
Unreimbursed transportation costs are the district’s costs for bussing to and from outdoor school. They are only the costs that are not covered by other sources such as:
- Title 1,
- Title 9,
- State of Oregon funds, etc.
The OSU Outdoor School program will also reimburse districts for all costs related to taking students/parents/families from your school to an outdoor school facility. You or your partner organizations might want to do this as part of a school-sponsored outdoor school orientation or information event. Reimbursable transportation expenses can include bus fees, fuel, mileage, driver, or charter costs.
Districts should include costs associated with personal vehicle use in the personnel and stipend category. This is only if the district approved the personal vehicle use as a reasonable outdoor school expense.
Program costs are the district's costs to provide students with a successful outdoor school experience. The district should include the school or district's outdoor school costs in the program cost category if the school or district is the outdoor school provider (such as: site rental fees, food, cook stipends, etc.). See prohibited costs.
Allowable program costs
These include, but are not limited to:
- Portable equipment less than $1,000 (such as digital cameras, GPS units, science kits)
- Emergency and/or first aid kits and kit refills
- Office supplies (purchased for outdoor school) (e.g. write-in-the-rain paper)
- Direct mail/postage (purchased for outdoor school)
- Supplemental Accident Insurance1
- Menstrual products as required in OAR 581.121
- Equipment and clothing for staff or students including:
- Outdoor clothing,
- outdoor gear, or
- safety gear.
- Equipment and clothing cleaning costs (sleeping bags, apparel, boots, etc.)
- Storage for equipment/material
- Restoration activity supplies: tree protectors, grass seed, plants, shrubs, trees
- Miscellaneous tools/hardware, shovels
- Food or snacks for the outdoor school program (not for classroom activities)
- Prizes that are educational in nature. For example: leaf or tree identification cards, magnifying glasses, etc.
- Contractor fees (e.g. background checks and fingerprinting), stipends, and travel costs. These could also include folks working outside of their job description and presenting as:
- speakers,
- master naturalists,
- visibility experts,
- college students.
- Translation costs for outdoor school printed material
- Hotel costs for staff/chaperones
- The school/district must verify the staff/chaperone is necessary. And they must verify that the accommodations are a necessity, not a preference.
Prohibited program costs
These include, but are not limited to:
- Individual apparel/gear purchased for or used only by one individual (e.g., work pants, hiking or work boots). OSU will reimburse the cost of T-shirts if they are part of an outdoor school activity.
- Donations to programs or individuals.
- Flower bouquets, greeting cards, gifts, and gift cards.
- Office supplies for administrative use. For example: paper, pens, folders, toner, office furniture, etc.
- Occupancy, rent, utilities, property insurance, janitorial.
- Communication, telephone, internet, fax, cell phone.
- Copying and printing costs associated with grant administration.
- Office equipment costs. The school/district cannot include the cost to buy or depreciate, lease or maintain copiers, faxes, printers, and scanners.
- Legal expenses.
- Solicitations and announcements for contract bid postings and job postings.
- Banking and fiscal transaction fees.
- Grantees insurance (risk, bonding, liability, D/O, and other).
- Technology (computer, IT service, maintenance, software, etc.) for administration.
- Costs associated with the ownership of equipment including depreciation, storage, maintenance, and insurance.
- Overdrafts, late fees, finance charges, penalties, or interest (accountability of public funds).
OSU will not pay districts for supplies they already own, without documented approval from OSU. This would include items like:
- Science materials
- T-shirts
- Materials purchased for something other than outdoor school but used for outdoor school.
District is expected to ask parents (as part of the standard permission slip) to verify that they do or do not have medical/accident insurance that would cover their child if the child were injured at outdoor school.
The OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program will reimburse the district for the premium costs of an appropriate supplemental accident insurance policy (up to $2.00 per student per day) for those students whose parents indicate they are not covered and would (without coverage) not send their child to outdoor school.
Each district is required to have basic liability insurance to cover student injury/illness.
Also note, the Outdoor School program will not pay any deductibles or other fees/expenses related to this supplemental insurance or any injury/illness experienced by students. Each district is required to have basic liability insurance to cover student injury/illness while at school or under the care and supervision of the school.
As indicated in prohibited program costs, the cost of liability insurance will not be reimbursed by the OSU Outdoor School program.
How to report this online
Where to report actual cost per student online in question 6 of the form.
Transcript
so now we are on question six of the
report
where we are reporting the cost for
outdoor school
we really want you guys to have all of
your expenses
collected and ready to go when you get
to this question it is on a per student
basis so any cost
in a category you would add it all up
you divide it by the number of students
that attended and that would be the cost
that you would report
the four categories that we are asking
reporting on is the program cost
the unreimbursed transportation cost
outdoor school provider fees and then
the stipends and personnel keep in mind
oregon department of education does pay
a certain portion of your transportation
costs included for outdoor school so
take a look at that with your agreement
with ode make sure that you're charging
them the certain portion that they
agreed to we will take care of the rest
provider fees sometimes a provider
will include chaperone cost in a
different category you want to take the
full provider fee invoice and divide it
by the number of students and that is
what you will put in the report
if you guys have any questions on these
categories we do have very detailed
information on the website and rita and
i are always here
for a phone call or quick email let us
know
Disability support
Measure 99 funding provides additional examples of allowable costs.
Transcript
Indirect costs
Indirect costs are the cost of operating your school or district that you cannot identify as part of the Outdoor School award. Districts may not include these costs in their Outdoor School reported costs.
Receipts and records
OSU does not require the participating district to submit a full accounting of expenses with your reported costs, however, OSU may request the district produce copies of receipts or other documentation as part of an audit.
The district must retain all documents related to outdoor school costs in support of your Outdoor School reported costs. These documents include, but are not limited to:
- A roster of the students who attended outdoor school to support the number of students claimed in the district’s payment request.
- Documents that support service and supply payments submitted as outdoor school costs (e.g., invoice/payment documents).
- Documentation of transportation costs.
- Payroll records associated with teacher stipends or other personnel related expenses.
Matching or in-kind funding requirements
There is no requirement for districts or schools to have or to document matching or in-kind funds for OSU Outdoor School program awards.
Prohibited actions
ORS 244.040 prohibits every public official from using or attempting to use the position held as a public official to obtain a financial benefit if the opportunity for the financial benefit would not otherwise be available but for the position held by the public official. The financial benefit prohibited can be either an opportunity for gain or to avoid an expense.
See all funding information
See frequently asked questions about funding eligibility or finances and budgets.