Written by Pat Reed, Vice Principal/Curriculum, St. John Fisher School
Funding
Addendum written by Ryan Incrocci, student at
Introduction
Funding for schools has and still is a concern for many
districts. Some of the results of this
have involved public schools in the U.S. turning to private funding as sources
of their funds in order to provide the schools with tools and resources
necessary for the growth of the school, whether it be through getting hardware,
such as computers, in the classrooms or by providing Internet services to
students. Through the years, there has been an influx of corporate sponsors in
the
E-Rate Program
Under this federal program, schools and libraries receive Internet access and different connections to communication at reduced prices that can range from 20% to 90% (Panagopoulos, 2005). However, the E-Rate funds do not meet the publics’ need for them. In 2004, there was a cap on the funds that was $2.25 billion per year, although the need for funds from public schools and libraries reached $4.3 billion (Panagopoulos, 2005). This shows the increasing need for more funds in areas such as communication and technology for public schools. The result is using corporations to help supply funds that cannot be provided by the state or federal government.
*The E-Rate website provides useful information, including websites for each state, providing funding information and other useful resources. http://www.e-ratecentral.com/us/default.asp
School Commercialism
School commercialism is defined as a result of a school
district and a business relationship in which the business is provided access
to students for an exchange of resources, whether they be
money, goods or services (Brent & Lunden
2005). Methods of marketing include
putting advertisements on buses, Internet tracking of websites used by students
and programs giving equipment to schools according to the amount of coupons or
receipts collected by schools (Story & French, 2004). Many other of these
different methods of marketing that are used in
One example involving bus advertisement includes the
Another program recently developed involves using buses in
a different way, through radio. A
*Bus Radio’s Website: www.busradio.org
An example of the school funds or equipment exchange for coupons or receipts includes Box Tops for Education. This program has now expanded into different methods, including the development of Box Tops for Education Visa card which donates money to your school as you use it. Another expansion includes the receiving of funds to your school by shopping at a select number of stores, over 200, some of which offer 8% of your spending to fund your school (Box Tops for Education, 2006).
Channel One has been a very influential type of commercialism giving funds to schools in exchange for watching certain advertisements everyday. This agreement gives video and television equipment to schools with the agreement that their students will watch 12-13 minutes of Channel One programming per day (Brighouse, 2005). Channel One programming is not all commercials or marketing tactics, however. Two minutes of the programming of the 12 minutes is commercials and the other portion includes a news program (Molnar & Garcia, 2005).
Combating School Commercialism
Many organizations have developed to help provide voluntary guidelines for corporations. These organizations include the National Education Association, the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals in Business, as well as others that have taken on the Milwaukee Principles for Corporate Involvement in the Schools (Molnar, 2005).
Other non-profit organizations, such as the Campaign For a Commercial-Free Childhood, deal with issues involving the prevention of commercialism on children in schools. http://www.commercialexploitation.org/index.html
Effects of commercialism on health
Philadelphia Public School Chief Executive Paul Vallas
banned selling soda due to the increase in obesity related to this along with
the bad nutritional value (Molnar, 2005).
Decisions such as these are occurring throughout the country and the
effect is loss of funding for these schools as they decrease or eliminate
funding by corporations that feed into the unhealthy eating habits and
increased levels of obesity in children today.
Some school systems are faced with many crucial decisions when dealing
with issues such as banning soft drinks, however, as schools may have grown
dependent on the funds that come from companies such as Coca-Cola that are
providing these soft drinks. For example,
the
An even larger deal was signed with Pepsi in
Conclusion
There are many issues to consider when dealing with funding for schools, especially the trend of marketing to children through advertisements by corporate advertisements in exchange for funding Internet service, computers and any other school expenses. These advertising methods, however, vary in degree of influence on children. There are some services that are blatantly intrusive to students such as the commercials required to be watched through Channel One. Others it seems are not as extreme, including Box Tops for Education, which puts a lot of the marketing at the parental level as well. Still there are issues when dealing with this type of service to provide funding that have parents and critics concerned about the shaping of their children in schools today and how this will impact them. The way it impacts children, however, varies.
The results, however, are that funding, especially in the sector involving Internet access and telecommunications, is not fully provided for schools. It has been shown that the money received from corporations is an integral part of the schools’ source for resources.
Works Cited:
Box Tops for Education. 31 May 2006 <http://www.boxtops4education.com/>.
Brent, Brian O., and Stephen Lunden. “Rethinking School Commercialism: Who or What Comes First?” School Business Affairs (2005). <http://asbointl.org/asbo/files/ccPageContent/DOCFILENAME/000000013373/Brent-Article-JulAugSBA.pdf>.
Brighouse, Harry. “Channel One, the Anti-Commercial Principle, and the Discontinuous Ethos.” Educational Policy 19 (2005). <http://epx.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/19/3/528>.
Enriquez,
Susana. “Some See School Buses as Vehicles for Advertising.”
Ervin K.
Legal experts warn Seattle School Board against renewing Coke contract.
Mabe L. Pepsi
high.
Mayer,
Caroline E. “The Next Niche: School Bus Ads.”
Molnar, Alex. “School Commercialism and Adolescent Health.” Adolescent Medicine Clinics (2005). <http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/CERU/Documents/CERU-0507-201-RW.pdf>.
Molnar, Alex, and David R. Garcia. “Empty Calories:
Commercializing Activities in
Panagopoulos, Costas. “Follow the Money: Assessing the Allocation of E-Rate Funds.” Social Sciences Computer Review 23 (2005). http://ssc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/23/4/502
Story, Mary, and Simone French.
“Food Advertised and Marketed Directed At Children and Adolescents in the