Archive for November 25th, 2008

Now How Much Would You Pay? But Wait, There’s More!!

Published by Robert Pondiscio on November 25, 2008 in Humor. 2 Comments

Now that school budgets are getting hammered and bake sales are verboten, perhaps other teachers might wish to steal a fundraising idea from Poway, California calculus teacher Tom Farber.  He’s begun selling ad space on tests and quizzes to cover printing costs cut out of his school’s budget.

Farber’s customers pay $10 for an ad on a quiz, $20 to be on a chapter test and $30 for a spot on a semester final, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.  “Farber said he has sold about $350 in ads, more than enough to make up what the school budget doesn’t pay for,” the paper notes.  “He said he still has ad space for next semester, and whatever extra money he collects will go to the math department for other teachers to use.”

May I humbly suggest that Farber might be wanting for ambition? Why stop at mere ad space?  Just about every elementary school teacher has taught probability or graphing using a packet of M&Ms.  Stop thinking of that as a lesson plan–it’s a product placement opportunity!  (Face it, Mars Inc., Skittles or Reese’s Pieces would work just as well.  What’s a captive audience of twenty-five  3rd graders worth to you?)  Endorsement deals! (”Ticonderoga…the official No. 2 pencil of Room 501″) 

How much would naming rights for classrooms, gymnasiums or entire schools fetch?  Citigroup shelled out $400 million for naming rights to the New York Mets new ballpark.  That works out to $8,000 per seat.  At that rate, a 500-seat elementary school is worth $4 million!  Of course, even that relative bargain might be too rich for Citi’s blood right now. 

I wonder if Alberto Carvalho has thought of this?

(Finder’s Fee: Joanne Jacobs)

Where’s the Bailout for Schools?

Published by Robert Pondiscio on November 25, 2008 in Education News. 3 Comments

You knew it was just a matter of time before someone asked, “Where’s the bailout for public schools?”  With Wall Street and the banks on the receiving end of hundreds of billions of federal largesse, and the Big Three automakers next in line, Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho is calling on the federal government to consider a bailout of the nation’s public schools.

”The question in my mind is this: At a time when we’re continuing the bailout of key industries, at what point do we have a bailout of public education?” asks Carvalho, whose district has already trimmed about $300 million from its budget, and could face an additional $65 million in cuts, according to the Miami Herald.  The Miami-Dade school system is the nation’s fourth largest.

”The most commonly heard solution out of Washington these days is a bailout where the federal government intervenes to safeguard key industries and in the process, the quality of American life,” Carvalho said. “If that’s the rationale, than I cannot think of a more strategic investment than safeguarding the quality of public education.”

Meanwhile, over at Eduwonk, Andy Rotherham, who is nothing if not plugged in to the political machinery, reports “hearing some rumblings that a big pre-K program would make a great stimulus package education component.”  But Rotherham thinks school construction makes more sense.  “There is a real need for both traditional public schools and public charter schools and it’s a sensible way to create and maintain jobs,” he writes.