The sun has set on a beloved tradition for students at the Bainbridge Island School District, but it might rise once more funding is available, officials said.

Outdoor education at BISD will no longer include an overnight trip, in part due to loss of funding for the state program in this year’s legislative session.

A committee of 4th-6th grade staff members, teachers, paraeducators, nurses, special education staff and community members reviewed the district’s outdoor education policy over the 2024-25 school year, assessing its level of accessibility, efficacy and scope.

BISD has long offered outdoor education as part of its intermediate grade science curriculum, which includes day trips and a big overnight field trip for each of the fourth, fifth and sixth grade levels.

“We really wanted to make sure that our students had real world connections to science standards, that they had the opportunity to explore social-emotional learning connections to those standards, that they learned to be stewards of the earth and our community, that they could explore different career paths, that teachers could see students thrive in a different area other than in the classroom, and they could build camaraderie and community,” director of teaching and learning Whitney Skarbek said at the May 29 school board meeting.

In the course of their discussions, committee members found that the annual overnight trip that fourth graders and Sakai students embark on was no longer conducive to changing social norms around student privacy and sleepovers, and presented a significant financial burden on families and parent-teacher organizations (PTOs), proving too difficult for students with high support needs.

On average, it costs about $560 for each student to attend the outdoor overnight field trip, or about $33,000 for each grade level. Typically, BISD receives about $14,875 per building for outdoor education through the state’s environmental education program, Outdoor Schools Washington, but the program was claimed by state-level budget cuts and it was not included in the 2025-27 budget.

Lack of funding, combined with the logistical burden for staff, led the committee to recommend that BISD sunset its overnight outdoor education field trip and integrate fourth, fifth and sixth grade environmental science lessons with the local ecosystems of the island, such as parks, beaches, farms, wetlands, preserves, and riparian areas. These lessons will take place during the school day over three years.

This way, intermediate-grade students will have multiple opportunities for immersive educational experiences with nature, rather than in just one big event, which takes the pressure off of teachers, families and students, explained Skarbek and superintendent Amii Thompson.

“It weighed heavy on me, because I know this is something that is loved and cherished by many of our fourth-grade students. I also know that there are more and more students every year that cannot go, do not want to, and most importantly for us to have consideration for, cannot access,” said Thompson. “If we are having experiences that we cannot provide access to for all our students, that’s a concern and something we need to revisit.”

The committee added that, should state-level funding return, the program may become a viable option in the future.