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Letters to the Editor
Eanes school board members erred in plan to place ads on district school buses
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
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Dear Editor:
I am disgusted by the recent vote of Eanes Independent School District Board of Trustees to negotiate a contract for advertising on school buses.
I am not naive to the realities of diminishing financial resources for our schools, but this idea is over the edge. I understand that commercialism is becoming a larger part of our society everyday, but there has to be some limit. As an EISD resident and parent, I intend to boycott any entity that advertises on our buses. I encourage others to do the same. Please contact me if you want to organize an effort against this travesty.
Brian Ragland
Olympus Drive
Mr. Ragland, I share in your disgust over the idea of allowing commerical advertising on school buses.
However, the method behind this madness is not simply to create a revenue source, but to accommodate self-serving “public service” announcements promoting such things as the upcoming school bond elections and/or the administration’s selected school board members/candidates.
This is a shameless idea at best.
Are you guys also disgusted with other advertising throughout the district?
- in the EISD school gyms
- in the Eanes telephone directory
- in the Featherduster
- in the stadium
- in the Eanes telephone directory
- on the EEF website
- on T-shirts
- on taxi cabs and city buses
- on parent’s cars
- etc. etc. etc.
Come on guys, really. Advertising is everywhere, even in schools. That is why the district has strict guidelines in policy for filtering ads.
The board and district should be commended for judicious use of school assets to generate income.
Get over yourself. Your kids are probably covered in advertising messages already from their t-shirts to their shoes. You’re making a big deal out of nothing … When Phil Howry gets behind your ideas then I know you are way off base. Thank you, Phil, for confirming my belief that Ragland is “out there”.
It’s interesting “Look Around” and “Gimme a break” fail to address the potential of political advertising on tax-funded property (school buses).
I assume there is still a difference between privately-owned & publicly-owned property. How many commercial Ads are hanging off a federal or county court house?
Phil, there are a lot of potential things not addressed in the comments above yours.
The fact remains that the district is using its bus fleet to generate income similar to how other assets throughout the district are used.
So what?
So what? The EISD is a tax-funded government entity…terms such as “income” and “assets” apply to taxable for-profit enterprises. If the EISD were a business enterprise, the chronic deficit spending would have the current administration in hot water with the board of directors for a failure to balance “income” & expenses to generate a profit. In the for-profit real business world, our administration fails.
The primary purpose of all school district property is to facilitate/enhance the educational mission; however, everyone is entitled to thier opinions.
Successful non-profit enterprises use whatever resources possible to generate income including advertising with owned assets. EISD and other school districts have done so for generations. Buses are just another example.
It is simply prudent to use assets to generate additional revenue.
EISD has stated its plan for building up a fund balance, gradually reducing that balance over the coming years and maintaining the excellence of the district. Kudos to the leadership for doing so.