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Feb. 21, 2004: Ads in school buses pitched

A firm would share revenues with districts. The Reading superintendent would consider the idea.

©2004 Reading Eagle Company By Adam Wilson Reading Eagle

Berks County school districts may be asked whether they’re willing to bombard students with advertisements inside school buses in order to pick up some extra money.

That’s if an idea by a startup Allegheny County company takes hold.

InSight Media’s plan is a simple one: Place ads inside school buses and give the school district between 20 percent and 40 percent of the gross revenue.

"We’ll saturate Allegheny first, and then look to other counties and states," said Brian D. Unger, company president.

Issues regarding advertising on public school property often open philosophical debates for school boards.

"That kind of decision is one that school boards always struggle with," said Dr. M. Melissa Jamula, Reading School District superintendent. "We have Channel One in our secondary schools and a Pepsi scoreboard as part of a previous agreement. Those decisions did not come lightly."

Channel One is a network that provides districts with free TV equipment in classrooms in return for airing a 12-minute daily news program that contains advertising.

Unger said the ads in school buses would be education-driven, such as college-recruitment ads. The ads would be inside the buses where they would be viewed only by riders.

Under Pennsylvania law, advertising is illegal on the outside of school buses.

"We are going after clean, wholesome advertisers," Unger said. "We are not going to have McDonald’s Big Mac ads in school buses."

Unger estimated that a school district that owns and operates 60 buses could net an additional $120,000 in annual revenue.

The money could be a great incentive for many districts to sign up, said Dr. Lee T. Fredericks, Wilson School District superintendent.

But Fredericks said it’s not an avenue that Wilson, which owns 41 buses, would explore.

"I’m fortunate enough to be in a school district with the wherewithal to do without putting ads on buses," Fredericks said.

"But I understand the plight of other districts," he said. "In light of No Child Left Behind, I can see why they are looking under every nook and cranny for extra dollars."

The federal No Child Left Behind Act has been criticized for requiring schools to meet standards without providing funding.

As long as the ad campaign was tasteful and strictly confined to the inside of the buses, Fredericks said, there shouldn’t be too many concerns.

"There’s advertising on Channel One. There’s advertising in athletic stadiums. There’s advertising in (athletic) programs," he said. "If it was inside the buses, how could you argue it is any different?"

Unger, however, said the ads on buses would be different because they would be screened by the participating school district.

Districts would be required to establish an advisory council consisting of two school board members and a member of the parent-teacher organization to review ads before they were placed, Unger said.

"They will have complete veto power over what their children are allowed to see," he said. "It’s completely different from having Coke machines in schools, for example."

Jamula said that Reading would consider such a proposal.

"Certainly we would be very willing to see what a company had to say about the process," she said. "It is absolutely something we would consider, but we would enter it with an open mind."

The Berks County Intermediate Unit operates buses for four Berks school districts, but any decision about advertisements on those buses would be made by the individual districts, said Stanley J. Kita Jr., BCIU assistant executive director.

Kita said that money might not be the only factor influencing a school district’s decision.

"There’s the philosophical issue that has to play in there," he said. "They could say, ‘Yes we could do with the revenue, but philosophically we don’t agree with exposing our students to advertising.’ "

Fredericks said a plan by Gov. Ed Rendell to put a ceiling on how much a school district could raise property taxes without a public referendum could create an avalanche of entrepreneurial ways to generate revenue.

"We wouldn’t be limited to putting ads on our buses," he said. "We would look at every which way to raise additional moneys to fund our programs.

"I think we’d look at every possible scenario. I think that every district would be in the same straits."

Contact reporter Adam Wilson at 610-371-5042 or awilson@readingeagle.com



Oct. 21, 2004:Improved vo-tech school coming

After 10 years of talks, the committee that operates the facility attended by Reading and Muhlenberg students hires renovation contractors.

©2004 Reading Eagle Company By Mike Trask Reading Eagle

The operating committee of the Reading-Muhlenberg Vocational Technical School took the final step Monday night toward the school’s $23 million expansion and renovation — a project that has been under discussion for 10 years.

The committee voted 5-0 to award contracts for the project, which is scheduled to begin next month. Completion is expected by September 2006.

Reading will pay 55 percent of the cost, and Muhlenberg, 45 percent. The split is based on the assessed market value of properties in each district.

The school has an enrollment of about 1,200 students from Reading and Muhlenberg school districts.

The project — the first of its kind at the school — is intended to boost enrollment by about 400 students a year.

Tourism and hospitality are among programs likely to be added, officials said.

Both districts have discussed the project for 10 years. Officials said Monday that they are thrilled it’s coming to fruition.

"I got on this board nine years ago and the discussions were already under way," said Donald B. Raifsnider Jr., a member of both the Muhlenberg school board and the technical school operating committee.

Dr. M. Melissa Jamula, Reading superintendent, called the day historic.

She said the expansion will allow the school to offer additional programs and improve existing classes.

"It’s going to give our students a first-class facility that they deserve," Jamula said.

Original bids earlier this year for the project came in at $5 million more than anticipated, so staff in both districts worked to get the cost down and had the contracts re-bid.

Committee members said the wait was worth it.

Keith R. Stamm, chairman, said the work will give students a better opportunity to learn.

"I feel this will give students more encouragement to stay in school," he said.

Contact reporter Mike Trask at 610-371-5037 or mtrask@reading eagle.com



Feb. 20, 2005: Suits cost Reading schools thousands

District officials say the total so far is about $25,000 for battling the No Child Left Behind law. Some question if it’s worth the effort.

©2005 Reading Eagle Company By Kori Walter Reading Eagle

Being the first school district in the country to go to court over the federal No Child Left Behind law has cost the Reading School District about $25,000 in legal fees so far, school board members said. The district has filed three lawsuits trying to get relief from sanctions the state has imposed on city schools under the 2001 law. So far, the district has little to show for the $25,000 investment — which is roughly $6,000 less than the minimum starting salary for a teacher. The state Commonwealth Court has ruled against the district in two of the suits. Both of those decisions have been appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. A third suit is pending before Commonwealth Court.

Board President John P. Santoro Jr. said paying lawyers a few thousand dollars is worthwhile, considering the stakes.

The district has estimated it would take about $26 million to hire faculty and expand academic programs so that schools could meet the math and reading standards required by No Child Left Behind.

"When you think about what it’s going to cost us eventually if we just drop it (the legal action), the taxpayers of Reading can’t afford it and the taxpayers of Pennsylvania can’t afford it," Santoro said.

The cornerstone of President Bush’s education policy, No Child Left Behind requires public schools to improve reading and math test scores each year.

All districts in the nation will be required to have 100 percent of students, including those in special education, proficient in reading and math by 2014. Keith R. Stamm has been the only Reading board member arguing that the district, which has a $132 million budget, cannot afford the rising legal tab. "I just don’t see them winning," Stamm said. "If they would win, I would dance on Penn Street." Stamm also said he is concerned that no other districts in the state have been willing to join the legal fight. "You can’t tell me that if it were such a great idea that you wouldn’t have some other school districts doing it," Stamm said, referring to suing the state. Although contempt for the No Child Left Behind is widespread, Reading is the only district in the state to wage a legal battle. Stuart L. Knade, chief counsel for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, said few districts consider going to court to be practical.

"The federal statute itself has a number of flaws and problems, but the extent to which a legal action could solve those flaws would be limited or prohibitively expensive," Knade said.

Proving the state or federal government is not providing enough money to meet the law’s academic standards also is difficult, Knade said.

"That’s again one of those issues ... how much money is enough?" Knade asked. "You can spend a lot of money litigating that."

Knade added that a lot of districts are waiting to see how well the law works and exactly how the state is implementing the law before rushing to court.

If funding is not increased to meet the standards, which steadily increase the percentage of students who must be proficient in reading and math each year, Knade said there could be more districts heading to court.

"I think the issues are just beginning to become ripe for litigation," Knade said.

Contact reporter Kori Walter at 610-371-5022 or kwalter@readingeagle.com



Feb. 23, 2005: State will save $4 million a year by changing office-supply process

Gov. Ed Rendell says a new contract will eliminate the need for a warehousing network that officials term cumbersome.

The Associated Press

HARRISBURG — Changes in how the state buys office supplies will allow it to shed or reuse 13 warehouses and save $4 million annually, Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday.

Under a contract awarded last year, office supplies are now purchased when needed, not stored in bulk, and are delivered directly to state offices by the supplier, officials said.

That wipes out the need for a warehousing network that state officials say is cumbersome and lagging behind a private sector that over the past decade has consolidated its shipping to save money.

Rendell noted that the $4 million savings is small next to the state’s $23 billion budget, but the money will be wellused. For instance, $4 million can pay for 11,000 children to receive after-school tutoring, he said.

"These savings have a direct benefit in human terms," Rendell said.

The cuts will be added to a growing list that Rendell has said he hopes will reach $1 billion in annual savings on government operations by the end of his four-year term next year. The total annual savings so far is about $350 million and could reach $500 million by the end of the year if the administration can force pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices they charge the state, Rendell said.

The shuttered warehouses are all in the Harrisburg area, said Don Cunningham, the state secretary for general services. The 40 warehouse workers will be transferred to different state jobs, officials said.

About two-thirds of the warehouses were leased, while the rest are owned by the state. The owned spaces can be sold or reused, Cunningham said.

Formerly, office supplies were delivered to one of the Harrisburg-area warehouses, each of which served a particular state agency. The supplies were then shipped to a countybased warehouse before being shipped again to a state office.

Supplies were purchased in advance, and sometimes pens sat for so long that the ink dried out before they arrived at an office, Rendell said. At other times, state workers would get so frustrated waiting for supplies to arrive that they would buy the items from a retail outlet, Cunningham said.

Under the new system, many of the county-based warehouses are no longer needed, officials said. The state has hired a consultant to advise it on how to use its properties in a more efficient way.

That means looking at 9,000 owned buildings and 1,400 leased properties, state officials said.

All articles reproduced herein © 2004 Reading Eagle Company