School buses to become “rolling billboards”

MISSION — Mission and McAllen’s school buses may soon sport advertisements for doctors, restaurants and other local businesses after officials noticed great success from a similar program in school districts near Houston.

Some Hidalgo County districts already use the empty yellow space on their buses for self-promotion, but Mission and McAllen’s public relations department have pushed for commercial advertisements in order to make even a small dent in their districts’ tight budgets.

“We are trying to rethink the way we do a lot of things and make sure we are doing things as efficiently as possible, making the best use of all our resources,” Mission spokesman Craig Verley said.

He and his counterparts in McAllen will soon accept proposals for advertising vendors who can arrange, sell and install the ads on the top and back portions of their buses.

Northeast of Houston, the Humble School District has placed ads on their buses for years and banked nearly $180,000 the first year, said Allan Griffin, Humble’s assistant director for transportation.

He said the “rolling billboards” provide a great chance for extra income.

“It’s additional revenues we would otherwise lose out on,” Griffin said. “The state has done such a poor job at funding us…that we are seeking out any loose nickel we can find.”

Many Houston-area districts contract their bus ads with Steep Creek Media, with estimated profits ranging anywhere from the low thousands to potentially $1 million if the local economy supports it.

Steep Creek Media’s owner, Cynthia Calvert, said the revenue will only represent a drop in the bucket for district’s multimillion dollar budgets.

But any additional money at no cost to a district will do a lot to cushion the deep education cuts expected from the Texas Legislature next year.

“Choir, band, advanced level classes…when you’re talking about taking away the things that make the school experience such a positive experience for so many kids, a little can go a long way,” Calvert said.

McAllen’s Norma Zamora-Guerra said she hopes Steep Creek Media or any other advertising group can help connect her district with local banks, hospitals, restaurants or professionals who want to support McAllen schools.

Taxpayers and parents would also appreciate the gesture, she said, since any efforts to be resourceful stewards of public funds shines well on the district.

“We manage school resources in a way that is prudent and careful,” Zamora-Guerra said. “But we have a responsibility to the community to be open to all possibilities, to be open to any option that would provide fruitful benefits to the district.”

McAllen and Mission expect the first ads to roll through neighborhood and city streets by early 2011, but Verley said Mission will begin driving self-promotion ads within three to four weeks.

Neal Morton covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956)683-4472.