ANALYSIS School Bus or Mobile Billboard? First, I must identify that my perspective on school bus advertising represents personal views
from experiences in different aspects of pupil transportation for nearly 30 years and are not neces- sarily the views of the Utah State Board of Education, which had yet to take a formal position for or against the issue at this writing. In addition, only one local school board in Utah, Jordan Public Schools, had taken a position in favor of placing advertising on school buses. Te position paper updated by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transpor-
By Murrell Martin
tation Services (NASDPTS) on March 4, 2011 is a comprehensive document that provides great insight for everyone in pupil transportation services. Te leadership and members of NASDPTS are to be commended for the combined efforts that went into providing this important document. Te Florida Association for Pupil Transportation is also to be commended for its position paper. In my opinion, this is important information that should be made available to all legislators and policy makers who are part of the process to consider permitting advertising on school buses. Unfortu- nately, when our legislative session in Utah wrapped up on March 10, opinions had already been formulated. Utah now has a law that permits advertising on school buses. In my opinion, there are a few things that we should all keep in proper perspective at this cross-
roads where states are beginning down a road into uncharted territories: 1. Te real issue is the lack of understanding about the value of school buses. Te reality is that
every dollar spent in pupil transportation results in great dividends. Te fact that this is not under- stood by legislators and local policy makers is the main reason school districts struggle for financial support at appropriate levels. Te American School Bus Council (ASBC) Champions Program is an excellent way for the truth about the value of school bus transportation to get out to the masses. 2. Te illusion of advertising on school buses becoming the solution to funding could have
a devastating impact on future funding support. Even in optimum conditions, a significant amount of revenue from advertising on school buses will never be able to replace the consistent on-going funding support that is needed for school bus transportation. 3. A lack of credible studies on the true impact to safety leaves the school bus industry de-
fenseless. Proponents of advertising on school buses point to the fact that there are no studies indicating a connection between advertising on school buses and increased accidents. Effective ad- vertising is focused on drawing the attention of those who view it long enough for them to retain a message about the content. It does not take a PhD to realize that whenever attention is drawn to an ad, less attention can be focused on what is going on around a school bus. As difficult as it may be to get accurate information about the true cause of accidents around schools buses, there is a critical need for our industry to focus on this area of information as it relates to advertising on school buses. 4. Te unknown territory of the legal jungle in defending advertising policies could negate
all monetary gains from advertising revenues. Controlling ad content at state and local levels is at the heart of concerns from parent groups. Due to the vast differences in what is considered ac- ceptable, lawsuits are a certainty in the future on both local and state levels. Te cost of defending and/or losing a single case could wipe out all financial gains. 5. Te unintended consequences of changes in laws often catch us by surprise at a point
when it is difficult to make a difference. For decades, the yellow school bus has been an icon of safety and a symbol of the value of public education. Without school bus transportation, access to a public education would be denied to millions of students. Permitting advertising on school buses cannot help but begin to erode this iconic symbol of both safety and access to public education. What will be the true cost of this? Overall, we should agree that the question of the true cost of placing ads on school buses is
something that deserves our attention and involvement. If converting our big yellow school buses into moving billboards proves to be the wrong path, it will require a great deal of effort to get all the school buses turned around and headed down a better road. ■
Martin is the pupil transportation specialist for the Utah State Office of Education. Read the NASDPTS position paper at
www.stnonline.com/go/777.
38 School Transportation News Magazine May 2011
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