East Brunswick Schools Look To Advertisers To Help Plug Budget Deficits

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — Banners around the high school football field, ads on the district website and sponsored yearbooks could soon help pay the bills in East Brunswick Public Schools.

The Board of Education on Sept. 24 adopted a resolution allowing the district to seek proposals from companies that sell advertising and sponsorships on behalf of schools. The resolution authorizes a competitive contracting process, which lets the district weigh factors other than price when choosing a vendor.

The move is the first step. Any contract with an advertising firm would come back to the board for approval.

Board member Liwu Hong thanked Superintendent Evelyn Mamman and her team for opening the process, saying it could generate "well-needed" funds for education. But he asked how the district would control what ads appear on school property.

School Business Administrator Joseph Crotchfelt said the request for proposals and the eventual contract will state that the board has the final right to approve or reject any ad.

"There's some things in law that are just straight prohibited - alcohol, tobacco, illegal things, firearms," Crotchfelt said. "But then there's also some artwork that we might find offensive. We as a district will have the last say."

Hong then asked whether the district could put written guidelines in place so advertisers know what is welcome and what is not.

Crotchfelt said the district's policy and state law already spell out what is allowed. He said the bigger question will be making sure signage fits the grade level of the school where it appears.

"It's not just wide open," Crotchfelt said. "It's not like the commercials you're going to see on TV."

He noted that state law also limits what can be placed on school buses.

"There are guardrails," Crotchfelt said, adding that once a vendor is selected, "there'll be a process, so there's a comfort level of what we're doing."

Where Ads Could Go

Board member Antoinette Evola, relaying questions from the community, asked whether ads would appear around the football field, on school buses or in yearbooks, and whether a single vendor could sponsor an entire yearbook.

"It's all an option," Crotchfelt responded. The district is making the request for proposals "as all-inclusive" as possible so it can later pick and choose, he said.

Options include banners around the football field and in gyms, digital ads such as a banner across the district website, and naming rights, he said.

Crotchfelt said Advertisers want high-traffic locations,. He pointed to the district's performing arts center, which hosts events nearly every weekend, as an attractive spot. Smaller spaces, like gyms, likely wouldn't draw much interest, he said.

A Push To Close Deficits

Board member Tim Cummings credited Evola with pushing the idea forward. He admitted he was skeptical at first.

"I really wrestled with whether or not that's the right move," Cummings said. He said Evola's vision was driven by a desire to address "a very deep" pain point for the district: "the ongoing deficits."

"I now believe [it] is the right direction," he said.

Evola, who said she does fundraising through her job and previously served as a PTA fundraising vice president at Hammarskjold Upper Elementary School, said the district can't keep going back to the same families for money.

"If you keep reaching out to the same community for the same fundraising, you're not going to have as much ticket selling," Evola said.

She said she pushed for the idea on her first day on the board and credited Crotchfelt, Mamman and their teams for suggesting options she hadn't, such as the website banner.

The request for proposals must give vendors at least 20 days to respond, according to the resolution.

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