NEWS RELEASE
For More Information Contact: Robert Weissman and Elizabeth Ben-Ishai (503) 235-8012
For Immediate Release: January 31st, 2012

Commercial Alert to Kentucky Senate: School Bus Advertising Is the Wrong Way to Raise Revenue

Kentucky schools should not move forward with plans to sell advertising on school buses, Public Citizen’s Commercial Alert said in a letter sent today to members of the Kentucky Senate. Pursuing this path would raise little revenue and undermine Kentucky Public Schools’ educational and child development mission, the letter said.

The text of the letter follows:

Dear Senator,

Commercial Alert is a project of Public Citizen, a consumer protection organization based in Washington, D.C., with more than 250,000 members and supporters. We aim to keep commercial culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and democracy.

We understand that the Kentucky House of Representatives has recently passed House Bill 30, which would allow Kentucky school boards to sell advertising on school buses. We write to urge you to vote against this Bill when it moves to the Senate. We understand that the financial pressures Kentucky schools currently face make you eager to identify non-traditional sources of funding. We know your primary concern is to avoid shortchanging students as a result of budget cuts. However, subjecting children and the community to even greater amounts of advertising is the wrong response. It will raise little revenue while undermining the educational and child development mission of Kentucky schools. Educational institutions should promote civic virtue and the public good, not commercial values.

Childhood and adolescence are crucial periods for young pupils to develop their identities. Corporations exploit these developmental challenges, and convey through sophisticated marketing strategies that children should build their identities and judge their peers based on what they have, rather than on who they are. Children are already surrounded by near-constant advertising that promotes consumerism and commercial values. But the ubiquity of advertising is not a reason for allowing school bus advertising – it is a reason why children need a sanctuary from a world where everything seems to be for sale. Education should empower students to think critically and independently. Students should be encouraged to form their own beliefs, to question established ideas, and to develop intellectual curiosity. Marketing and advertising contravene these goals. Advertising on school buses conveys market rather than civic values and impedes the ability of the education system to function as an open space where ideas are freely exchanged and the next generation of public-minded, conscientious students can grow.

Some advocates of school bus advertising believe that setting appropriate guidelines for these practices can curb potential harms. But more often than not, these guidelines offer virtually no protection to students. House Bill 30 prohibits alcohol, tobacco, and political or campaign advertisements on school buses. While these are certainly important restrictions, they do nothing to prevent advertising for a wide range of items that are potentially harmful to children, including junk foods and sexualized or violent media. Corporations that sell harmful products to children will be among those most interested in targeting them by pursuing advertising opportunities. In states across the country that permit bus advertising, district guidelines have not prevented companies selling fast food, soda, and other unhealthful products from purchasing advertisements that target students. By permitting advertising on school buses, the school system is endorsing the products and services advertised.

This Bill has potentially damaging consequences for both the safety of children and the economic health of school districts. National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services opposes advertising on school buses on the grounds that they may distract both bus drivers and other drivers on the road, endangering students. In addition to safety concerns, HB 30’s restrictions around tobacco, alcohol, and political advertising, as well as any other restrictions particular school boards may choose to implement, open it up to potentially costly First Amendment challenges. While the Bill includes a subsection that calls for removal of all advertising should restrictions on advertising content be subject to constitutional challenges, this provision will not protect already cash-strapped schools from incurring legal costs.

Weighted against the harms of school commercialism, the financial benefits of school bus advertising are minuscule. School districts that permit bus advertising generate revenues that are a drop in the bucket when compared to their total budgets. In 2011, the Houston Independent School District, which has 203,000 students, generated only $12,250 from bus advertising. With a budget of $1.58 billion, school bus advertising revenues in Houston amount to a tiny fraction of one percent of the total budget. Also in the Houston area, Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District generated $68,987 from bus advertising in 2010-2011, a figure which amounts to 0.01 percent of the district’s total budget. In Colorado Springs, bus advertising brings in $40,000 to the 27,000 students in the School District – 0.01 percent of the Distirct’s total budget of $300,000. Given the relatively insignificant revenues that bus advertising is likely to bring to the state’s school, the risks are certainly not worth it for Kentucky’s families.

We urge you to vote against the Senate Bill that would allow school districts in Kentucky to sell advertising on school buses. We look forward to your response, and would be pleased to discuss these matters with you further.

Sincerely,

Robert Weissman
President
Public Citizen

Elizabeth Ben-Ishai
Campaign Coordinator
Public Citizen’s Commercial Alert