Have you ever heard someone reminisce that “when I was a kid, we’d go outside after breakfast and not go home until dinnertime”? Being outside with your friends was what being a kid was all about. Maybe you were that kid and know firsthand how magical it was having the freedom to explore and play in the forests, fields, mountains, ponds, rivers and coastline of Maine.

But kids getting outside in nature has a lot of competition today – from screen time to school to extracurriculars and beyond. Yet the importance of Maine’s natural resources remains the same. Our children deserve the chance to learn, grow and connect with Maine’s outdoor heritage, which is why we are following Oregon and Washington in sponsoring a bipartisan bill this legislative session to establish and fund a program to bring outdoor school to all Maine students.

Outdoor school programs are multiday, overnight field trips for students and classroom teachers combining environmental science, sustainability, team-building and nature-based education. For example, UMaine Cooperative Extension already operates four learning centers in partnership with local Maine school districts to provide immersive, curriculum-connected outdoor learning opportunities.

Currently, less than 25% of Maine students get to participate in outdoor school programs. These programs are currently funded by a mix of private funding from foundations, school fundraising and additional scholarships funds provided by outdoor school centers. The goal of L.D. 1817 is to ensure equitable access for all Maine students by removing outdoor school funding barriers and allowing the distribution of grant funding.

L.D. 1817 would establish a three-year special fund that provides $6.2 million annually for 2023-2025. Under the Outdoor School for All Maine Students Program, schools would choose a grade between fourth and eighth, and all students in that grade, regardless of income, would have the opportunity to participate in a three-day, two-night immersive outdoor school program. The University of Maine Cooperative Extension will administer the program, providing grants for schools to work with an impressive network of outdoor school program providers. Through these outdoor school programs, students will get to live and learn together, experience the benefits of Maine’s beautiful outdoors, and be inspired about possible career pathways in agriculture, forestry, conservation and environmental STEM careers.

In 2019, a Journal of American Medical Association Pediatric study found that Maine has one of the highest percentages of children’s mental health problems in the United States. The effects of COVID-19 have made things even worse. All Maine children would gain emotional benefits from spending more time outside, and outdoor schools help boost a child’s self-esteem by providing opportunities to gain leadership skills and become more self-sufficient. Children who participate in these programs are more connected to Maine’s incredible outdoor heritage.

Outdoor schools also support classroom teachers and school systems. The outdoor school programs work closely with their Maine school partners before and after multiday overnight programs to integrate learning objectives. We have seen teachers’ relationships with their students grow after outdoor school programs. We have had students and teachers who struggle to build relationships inside the classroom completely change course after an outdoor school program because they tackled together new challenges that being outdoors can offer but traditional classrooms cannot.

Finally, we know our communities benefit from outdoor school programs and benefit workforce development. Outdoor school programs introduce students to natural resource-based careers like technical jobs in farming, fishing and forestry. These industries need a skilled workforce, and introducing these jobs to children in middle school helps them envision an exciting future career path in the fields, forests and waters of Maine.

In fact, the states that have implemented statewide outdoor school programs have already seen upper elementary and middle schoolers who participated in outdoor school programs have a continued interest in outdoor and environmental education, and have sought high school internships to teach in outdoor school programs. And this is about more than future employment: L.D. 1817 would have a significant impact on full-time employment jobs opportunities for people across Maine right now.

Our children deserve the chance to build a stronger and more lasting connection with the outdoors. We believe that L.D. 1817 is a great way to help accomplish this goal for Maine.