Ads in District 197 Schools—Is the Revenue Worth the Price?

For Henry Sibley High School student Josh Brinkman, the thought of a hallway plastered in ads for commercial products elicits an expression of disgust.

For members of the District 197 School Board, a hallway with a smattering of ads for nutritious eating and exercise brings the sound of dollar signs into a strained budget conversation.

These outlooks set the tone for a brewing debate over placing additional advertisements in District 197.

Through a contract with Coon Rapids-based company School Media, Inc., the district plans to raise $97,200 by allowing vinyl-wrap ads in all district buildings next year.

School Media, Inc. has been in business for almost two years, said President Paul Miller on Friday. While they have contracts across the country, in Minnesota they have worked with the St. Francis School District and the Becker School District.

The additional income from an advertising contract has been worked into revenue calculations used over the winter and spring to balance a $1.4 million shortfall and create additional room in the budget for new initiatives.

While the budget was approved last month, dissent over the policy of the line item is only now emerging.

How it Works

First, count the number of lockers in the district. A locker is roughly 1 foot wide. Vinyl, temporary ads are sized in 5-foot by 10-foot panels. So, one panel can be applied horizontally to a bank of ten lockers.

District 197 is looking to provide 20 percent of that locker coverage area for ad revenue. What that means is the number of panels needed to cover 20 percent of the lockers can be used for advertising, but those ads can instead be placed on the floor, hallways or other surfaces of a school building. The area covered will still be limited by the calculation of covering 20 percent of lockers regardless of where the ad is placed.

The ads are only up during the school year, and School Media is responsible for their maintenance and for changing them out when a new advertiser moves in.

Proceeds from the advertising that go to the school are calculated individually with each advertiser and district.

What’s on the Ads?

Miller said that ads are designed based on strict criteria of promoting nutrition, education or healthy lifestyles. A committee of school board members would be established to review and approve or deny any ad before it was placed in the school. For example, Underwater World at the Mall of America has advertised through School Media, providing clings that feature facts about fish.. Smith said a creative tow truck company in Minnesota created a “don’t text and drive” message for local teenagers.

The Objection

A few key words: bombardment, slippery slope, endorsement.

Bombardment: Miller said the most common concern he hears from parents is that their kids will be bombarded with ads. But Miller said it’s not that simple. Ads already exist in schools, from the drink machine to the once-ubiquitous phrase “Got Milk?”  Miller said the key is keeping the message focused on the three criteria of nutrition, education and wellness, something he thinks parents and the district can embrace.

For Brinkman, he doesn’t approve of any advertising in schools that promotes a commercial product. “The point of schools is to learn, not to sell people’s crap,” said Brinkman. Since students are legally required to attend school until age 16,  “Children are going to be legally forced to go and look at these ads.”

Slippery slope: The concern by district parents is that even with careful criteria and review, the educational message and the oversight could slip away over the course of years with the temptation of additional revenue.

Endorsement: District resident Tom Marver’s concern is it’s impossible for the school board to approve an advertisement without appearing to make an endorsement of the product. “It’s kind of implicit,” said Marver.

Brinkman said the impact will be greatest on elementary school kids, who will not be able to distinguish between an ad and a stamp of approval from their school.

Rainford said that there is a clear philosophical divide on the subject, and the board will likely need to further consider the scope of their decision. But Rainford also said that if the contract were to be rejected entirely, that revenue would have to be cut from somewhere else in the budget, and it cannot come from staff or faculty salaries.

The example she shared Monday was the option of pulling buses from routes within two miles of a school.