SPECIAL REPORT
Bay Transportation Authority’s “G-rated” ads policy violated the U.S. Constitution by rejecting a PSA on the effect of condoms in preventing the spread of AIDS. Te judge ruled that a transit agency, and perhaps any municipal entity that accepts federal mon- ey, such as school districts, cannot “open the door to public service advertising and hang only its favorite posters.” Tree years later, the Indiana Department of Education wrote a legal opinion that school districts that participate in ad-revenue programs could find themselves unable to restrict or control content based on equal access provisions of the First Amendment and commercial speech. Te Massachusetts decision came near-
ly 20 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that interior advertising space on city transit systems do not constitute a public forum. In a concurring opinion, Justice William Orville Douglas wrote, “… if we are to turn a bus or streetcar into ei- ther a newspaper or a park, we take great
liberties with people who because of ne- cessity become commuters and at the same time captive viewers or listeners.” Peggy A. Burns, Esq., owner of Education
Compliance Group, said little has changed in terms of school bus advertising and re- sulting legal issues since she first wrote on the subject in the November 1996 issue of School Transportation News. She chronicled the Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority’s case as well as a federal district court’s ruling that re- lied on the Massachusetts ruling and the Supreme Court’s 1974 decision that the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transporta- tion Authority could dictate ad content because a city transit system had previ- ously been found to not constitute a “public forum,” where free speech can only be excluded “when the exclusion is necessary to serve a compelling state in- terest and the exclusion is narrowly drawn to achieve that interest.” Burns added that the Supreme Court
ruling strongly supports the assertion that school buses also do not constitute a public forum, which would give school districts the ability to control advertising content. But districts must adopt clear policies setting forth the criteria for adver- tising that “reasonably reflect the school district’s mission, the nature of school transportation, and the fact that its cus- tomers are school-age children.” And, she said, consistent implementa-
tion of such a policy is essential. “We have had no issues of rejected ad-
vertisers arguing or citing free speech laws to go against a district decision,” added Al- pha Media’s Beauchamp. “I understand this is possible, but we have seen no such issues and do not foresee it. It is in no business’ best interest to fight with a local school dis- trict. Tat equals bad PR for them.” ■
Read the entire 1996 STN article on school bus advertising by Peggy Burns at
www.stnonline.com/go/794.
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36 School Transportation News Magazine May 2011 1-800-201-8589
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