The advantages of bus advertisements?
David Keyes
I knew it would just be a matter of time before Idaho Senate leaders would come up with a way to solve the funding woes that are strangling public education.
Was the solution to raise the sales tax 1 cent for a year?
Was the solution to close numerous tax loopholes for out-of-state companies that pay no corporate tax?
No, every once in a while an idea so ingenious, so clever and so right trumps all others and takes all of the oxygen out of the room because people are breathless because of its sheer brilliance.
Please remain seated, because here it comes …
On Tuesday, the Senate voted 25-9 to give school districts the option of selling ad space on the sides of school buses.
That’s it! Mission accomplished!
Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, says selling the ad space could generate up to $1 million a year. What a great trade-off, $1 million a year to decorate Idaho buses so that they could resemble tipped over milk cartons or circus tents.
I can hardly wait to see when the first “sponsored” school bus rolls up to the Capitol with a Planned Parenthood ad on one side and a Support NPR and Public TV ad on the other.
Paging Sen. Winder …
In their wisdom, the senators did vote to ban campaign ads on the buses and it appears that the state Board of Education will decide what ads are acceptable.
There goes Planned Parenthood. Here comes Barb’s Bible Emporium. There goes Ed’s Bar and Grill. Here comes the NRA or Roundup.
If the buses are going to have advertising, the message should be bold. Bonners Ferry buses should have should have a huge badger logo that could be sponsored by the many boosters in Boundary County.
Lake Pend Oreille School District buses could have huge Bulldogs logos sponsored by North Idaho Animal Hospital and a Wampus Cat sponsored by anyone who knows what a Wampus Cat is.
It gets a little tricky in Post Falls … or Athol …
The Idaho Statesman put this story on their website Tuesday afternoon and readers had all sorts of suggestions.
A few of them are here:
• “I’m excited to go to school … like riding the ‘Spearmint Rhino Bus’ in the morning! Man I wish I was a kid still.”
• “I say we all pitch in and buy a Recall Tom Luna ad campaign to go on the side of our school buses.”
• The bus drivers could wear NASCAR-type jump suits with logos all over them. I like it. We could move the idea to the janitors, teachers and principals. Rinnnnnnnnnngggg — time for recess which today is sponsored by … Target, and just so you know Target has spring clothes on sale this week.
• So I wonder what the going rate will be for advertising on the bus? If the price is right and the school board would allow it, they could have every dive bar in town advertising (wishful thinking, I know). “Need a break from the kids? Come to Jimmy Jet’s for lunchtime drink specials!”
• Up next … ads on lockers, sponsored chalkboards, and homeroom announcements “brought to you by Hot Topic and iTunes.”
The bottom line is this could get out of hand very easily and while $1 million is a lot of money, that is the projected number for the whole state.
How about this idea? How about requiring any senator who voted for this to wear patches on their sports coats with logos of the top 10 contributors to their campaign coffers.
“This senator is brought to you by …”
David Keyes is publisher of the Bee. He isn’t sponsored by anyone.