If Florida decides to allow ads on the outside of school buses to raise money, it wouldn’t be the only state to do it, with 13 others already allowing districts to puts ads on buses, according to a new state report looking at the issue.
Florida law already allows adverstising on the inside of school buses, one of 5 states in the country to do that. But it is one of 34 states that don’t permit ads on the outside of buses, according to the new report by the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability.
That would change if lawmakers approve bills (SB 344, HB 19) filed in the Senate and House by Democratic Sen. Bill Montford of Tallahassee and Republican Rep. Bryan Nelson of Apopka.
The idea was in a bill filed last session as well, but it died in committee in both chambers.
The new OPPAGA look at other ways for bringing in school revenue in other states also found that 12 states allow districts to charge parents fees for transporting students to and from school and 1 state, Hawaii, requires those fees.
In Florida in 2010, districts transported more than 1 million of the 2.6 million public school students at a cost of $954 million, about $931 per transported student. About 45 percent of that was paid for by the state, with local school districts responsible for the other 55 percent.
