Posted on: Monday, June 20, 2005

Proposal would ease ban on ads in schools

Associated Press

Two Board of Education members this week plan to propose allowing Hawai'i schools and libraries to raise money by selling advertising on campus.

Garrett Toguchi and Randall M.L. Yee intend to introduce the idea to members of the Committee on Support Services at a meeting Wednesday. They view the measure as an optional source of revenue for schools and libraries.

If the proposal is adopted, each school principal and School Community Council would choose whether to accept advertising.

"I can understand why there's been a prohibition," Yee said Friday. "I'm sure when it comes to kids and a captive audience, I would anticipate people would be very concerned about what could happen and the implications of any kind of advertising."

But he said it was time to consider giving schools more options.

The proposal would ban ads in classrooms but allow them on walls and other public areas of schools and libraries.

They would have to be "consistent with the mission" of public schools and libraries, and "promote positive behavior, educational activities, health and wellness, co-curricular activities, physical activities and athletic events."

Toguchi said a school could allow a corporate ad saying, "Study hard," or "Congratulations, graduates," along with a sponsor's logo.

"In order for the idea to be accepted, it has to be very restrictive," Toguchi said.

The current policy bans advertisements "except for approved school or library fundraisers or activities."

The support services committee as well as the full board would need to approve the measure.

Cash-strapped schools across the country are turning to advertisements, allowing them to be plastered on scoreboards, bulletin boards, school buses, and textbooks.

One study says references to using school property to promote individual corporations have quadrupled since 1990.

The report, by the Commercialism in Education Research Unit of Arizona State University's Education Policy Studies Laboratory, says "advertising is pervasive in schools."

The National Parent Teacher Association opposes allowing ads in schools.

Board member Maggie Cox, a recently retired principal on Kaua'i, said she understands the desire to find new sources of money for school programs.

"We just do fundraiser after fundraiser," she said, trying to cover the cost of programs such as music and taking students on trips.

But she said the board should be cautious if it decides to lift its advertising ban by making sure it has a way of stopping any program that didn't prove beneficial.