Bloomingdale Considers Selling Ads on School Buses

While they did not vote to allow or not allow any specific advertisement, the briefly discussed the idea of paid advertisements on school buses at Tuesday's meeting.

Business Administrator George Hagl said he attended an administrator's conference where the topic was discussed and a recommendation was made that school boards enact a policy in relation to advertising on school buses. The board did vote to enact a policy Tuesday, but, as Interim Superintendent Frank Buglione explained, another vote would need to be taken if the board were to consider allowing an advertisement on a school bus.

The idea is that the sale of advertisements would help generate revenue for the school district, Hagl said, with half of the money earned needing to be used to offset fuel costs and the other half earned as extra money for the district. While Hagl said he is in favor of additional revenue, he felt the board should take its time in considering whether to allow advertising on buses.

"I'm all in favor of generating money for the school district, but perhaps this is one of those cases where you might not want to act so quickly on this," he said.

Hagl also noted that he has heard the state Department of Transportation (DOT) is not in favor of advertising on school buses and it is rumored that the DOT will actually take buses that have ads out of service until they are removed.

What do you think? Should ads be allowed on school buses to offset school district costs? Participate in our poll below and then let us know your thoughts in the comments.