Steve Burns
WMAL.com
RICHMOND – (WMAL) As school districts continue searching for new ways to bring in money, a Virginia Delegate has a unique idea: slap ads on school buses.
“This is not something the state is going to say ‘you have to do it,’ but if the bill passes, then it’s certainly another tool in the tool chest,” Del. Israel O’Quinn, the bill’s sponsor, told WMAL.
His bill stipulates school bus ads can only take up the rear quarter panel – the space between the rear wheels and the rear of the bus – and cannot have any content parents wouldn’t want their kids to see.
“The parameters already exclude things like alcohol, junk food, gambling, politics, tobacco, sexually explicit materials, et cetera,” he said.
O’Quinn expected to see businesses like restaurants or car dealerships look to take advantage of the new advertising opportunity should the bill pass.
“More rural, and/or cash strapped localities are very excited about this possibility – a new, outside-the-box way to raise additional money,” he said.
In Fairfax County, School Board Chair Jane Strauss said the board would likely explore the option if it is given to them.
“If in fact this bill clearly goes through, I would imagine my colleagues on the School Board would discuss it,” Strauss told WMAL. “I can’t say how we would come down on it.”
It more signifies the dire straits many school districts find themselves in, she said.
“It shows you the degree, or desire, or in some cases desperation,” she said. “Public schools are being squeezed and are looking for ways to raise more money, particularly to pay our teachers more.”
Strauss said the possibility of putting ads on school buses was discussed a few years ago, and parent reaction was overwhelmingly negative.
“It is monetizing children,” she said. “How far do you go?”
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