Sixteen schools in Bucks County’s Pennsbury School District are allowing marketers to post advertisements in their hallways.
Over 200 advertisements will cover lockers, benches, cafeteria tables and hallways by month's end, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The school's new decorations are an effort by administrators to generate income for the school district after this year's budget was cut by $3 million.
“It's imperative we find alternate means to preserve our programs,” Assistant Superintendent W. David Bowman told the Inquirer,
The advertisements do come with limitations -- they must relate to education, nutrition, health or student safety, according to the Inky.
And while it seems that the ads will help the school district by increasing its budget by more than $400,000, a debate about allowing ads within an educational institution has opinions hitting both ends of the spectrum.
Parents say the information will only "clutter" the minds of their children, who must already retain a lot of information during the school day, reports Yahoo! News.
This is the first time the Philadelphia-area has seen advertising of this kind, according to allgov.com.
