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Reynolds School District: Transforming Schools Through Student Voice


The Reynolds Schools Initiative is a ground-breaking program —the first of its kind in Oregon—that treats students as civic leaders. In collaboration with Reynolds students, teachers, and administrators, Participatory Budgeting (PB) implements a deliberative democratic process that gives students real decision-making power over a dedicated portion of their school's resources.

We believe that learning democracy is best done through direct engagement. The Reynolds School District allocated $7,000 to this participatory budgeting process, ensuring students have a direct say in the type of school environment they want. In collaboration with the Reynolds School District and students, Participatory Budgeting Oregon (PB Oregon) provides the essential facilitation and technical assistance to lead the entire PB process.


 

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The Challenge We Address: Student Power Building

 

Traditionally, school budgets are managed solely by adults, leaving students—the primary users of the space—without a voice. This disconnect leads to frustration and missed opportunities. Our challenge is to move past simple surveys and hand student the reins, fostering genuine agency and civic responsibility early in life. 


Our Core Program: The Power of $7,000.00 
Our initiative is structured as a clear, multi-phase democratic process that runs from April 2025 to June 2026. 

 

  
 

Reynolds School-based PB Timeline

1. Student Steering Committee (Begins April 2025)

This phase convened a 21 student steering committee to design to engage in process rulemaking. The committee developed Reynolds High School Participatory Budgeting Jollification (PBJ) which details the process and outlines important elements like the process goals, values, and types of projects students want to see in their school. Beyond designing the rulebook, committee members learned about the distinct budgeting process, civic leadership, deliberative decision-making, and project management. 

2. Idea Generation & Budgeting Literacy (Begins September 2025) 

This phase corresponds to the Idea Collection stage of the pilot. We facilitate workshops and learning sessions that teach students the basics of budgeting, project planning, and proposal writing. Students work in teams to identify pressing needs at their school and develop initial proposals for spending the $7,000. Steering committee members have also been talking with their peers and gathering their ideas on how they would spend the funds.  Ideas often include upgrades to common areas, new technology for specific departments, or improvements to student wellness facilities.

3. Project Development & Vetting (Begins November-January 2026)
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Reynolds student clubs and general students will work together to research the submitted ideas and develop them into feasible projects to be voted on by the larger student population. PB Oregon will support students in creating project descriptions, project budgets, project timelines, and submitting their projects to district administration for approval. Once projects are approved, they will move to a ballot to be voted on in the next phase.

4. Democratic Voting & Implementation (Begins January 2025)

All students vote on which projects they would like to see funded and implemented on their campus. This is a crucial experience in real-world civics. Once the winning projects are selected, student clubs are funded and take an active role in the implementation phase, seeing their vision through to completion.

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