Ads on school district trucks possible

Advertising could appear on as many as 28 Clark County School District food service trucks sometime next year, possibly generating as much as $1.4 million for the cash-strapped system.

But School Board members drew the line Wednesday against allowing commercial advertising on school buses, fearing it would exploit students as a "captive audience" and affect safety because advertising could diminish public awareness of school buses.

"When people see the yellow school bus, they slow down and are much more cognizant," School Board member Sheila Moulton said.

School Board members and district staff said they normally would not pursue advertising dollars, but the state's budget crisis was forcing them to become more "entrepreneurial."

Superintendent Walt Rulffes said it would be a lot harder to cut $1 million from the budget. School Board member Carolyn Edwards also suggested the district could lease space for cell phone towers.

As the district pursues alternative sources of money, school officials worried that state lawmakers might see their efforts as an excuse to cut more public funding.

School Board members voted 5-0 to allow staff to research the feasibility of a pilot program with Advertising Edge, a Henderson agency, to sell space on district tractor-trailer food service trucks, which travel the county's major thoroughfares and highways.

Advertising Edge originally approached the district about the idea, said Jeff Weiler, the district's chief financial officer. The firm did not respond to a call from the Review-Journal on Wednesday.

If the pilot program is successful, the advertising contract would be put out to a competitive bid, Weiler said.

Weiler estimated that it probably would be a year before commercial advertising started appearing on trucks.

He said Advertising Edge would handle most of the details, such as selling the advertising space, but the district would have final say on the editorial content of the advertising.

Weiler said the district could limit the ads "to only positive messages," such as allowing a dentist to advertise the need to brush teeth three times a day.

Officials think the district's food service trucks might be a good fit because they already carry some school-based advertising, such as ads for magnet schools and teacher recruitment.

Weiler said the district should benefit from "the competition for billboard space," noting that some advertisers have resorted to having trucks tow signs around town.

Besides raising more money, district officials are looking for more ways to save money. One possibility is buying hybrid school buses, which would use about 30 percent less fuel, Weiler said.

Weiler said Thomas Built Buses has manufactured a hybrid bus. He would like to see Clark County test a new model.

The hybrid would cost about $150,000, 50 percent more than the cost of a regular bus, but Weiler said donations from environmental groups such as the Sierra Club could offset the cost.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-799-2922.