Wisnton Salem, NC -- A plan to make some money for Winston Salem/Forsyth County Schools outside of tax dollars is being reconsidered after administrators found the proposal could violate state codes.
Two weeks ago News 2 reported that the school district was in talks to put ads in schools through a company called Education Funding Partners (EFP).
Read the original story here:
This proposal was supposed to have been presented at the Building and Grounds Committee meeting Tuesday night. That's when the group was scheduled to decide whether to bring the idea up to the whole school board for a vote.
But News 2 has learned, while researching the contract, the attorney representing the district found "a section in the North Carolina Administrative Code that prohibits advertising in schools during the school day," a district representative said.
In spite of the new discovery, the district is trying to find a way around the ban and still make this potential revenue source work out.
"We wouldn't put ads in the school during the school day," said Theo Helm, the director for marketing and communication."But there are other areas where we could do advertising: such as on the playing fields and gymnasiums, things like that."
Those areas, according to Helm, are allowed to have ads - as is evident in the ones currently present in some athletic fields across the district's schools.
The district says one reason they're not completely scrapping the ads in school idea is because EFP estimates the district could eventually make $10 per student once the deal is in place
That is about $500,000 for the schools, which Helm explains could mean hiring 10 more teachers.
The communications director tells News 2 the Winston Salem/Forsyth County Schools cut millions of dollars out of their budget in the last year.
"Our desire is to not have to cut anymore positions and so we were looking at any number of different ways to try to increase our revenue," Helm said.
The original idea drew some criticism from a couple of parents, a national group and a psychologist who all thought advertisements in schools send the message that information is for sale.
Tuesday, Helm responded by saying that's a philosophical debate the school board would have to take up.
Once the district decides a course of action, the proposal would still need to go through the building and grounds committee before coming up to the full school board for a vote.