Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2005 > November > 21 > Entry
Do ad dollars make sense?
Given the intense competition from charter schools in Dayton, school officials in today’s paper said they have no choice but to spend thousands on advertising.
Even the school board’s critics, like the teachers union and opposition candidate Joe Lacey told me for this story that they agreed with spending a half million dollars on ads over three years. Whether you think charter schools are a good thing or a bad thing, the simple fact is that money spent on ads is money that can’t be spent in the classroom.
So if the school board and its critics are all on board with ad spending, I’m wondering what our readers think, especially those who are Dayton taxpayers?
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice, Dayton Public Schools
Comments
By Rick
November 24, 2005 10:40 AM | Link to this
David makes some valid points. However, I believe he is incorrect in general about the number of National Merit Scholars from the DPS. In the past, Dayton never had National Merit Scholars. Oh, I heard they had one, a kid who transferred from CJ his junior or senior year. I agree that Stiver is a gem and that there are success stories. I’ll go to your blog site.By David Esrati
November 21, 2005 5:15 PM | Link to this
As long as there is competition for students- advertising is a part of the equation. Colleges advertise, career schools advertise- and if you are going to have charter schools advertise- then so will public schools. The main problem Dayton Public Schools face is a very poor public image- going back to desegregation. No matter what they do right- the public perception is that they are a school system of last resort. While comparing DPS to suburban districts seems to be in vogue with the Dayton Daily News when test scores come out- it’s a totally unfair comparison. The fact is- Dayton Public Schools have more National Merit Scholars than Oakwood- have a jazz band at Stivers that was better than anyone in the country- and some really great success stories- it’s just that educators don’t understand marketing- at all. If the Dayton Public Schools ads were better- maybe Joe Lacy wouldn’t have gotten elected- and maybe, the public would think more of them. I’ve written about this in my blog- see http://www.thenextwave.biz/tnw/?p=99 from my caluclations- the $55K on the count week campaign returned 2.1 million dollars- I’d say that money was well spent.By David Lauri
November 21, 2005 9:57 AM | Link to this
The best advertising for the Dayton Public Schools would be for them to improve the quality of the education being offered to Dayton students. Ads aren’t going to make parents want to send their kids to Dayton public schools; results are. People aren’t putting their kids in charter schools or moving to the suburbs because they don’t like the ads selected by the Dayton school board.By Mary
November 21, 2005 5:27 AM | Link to this
As long as you are looking at education tax dollars not spent in the classroom, do not stop at ads for charter schools - at least those are educational need focussed. $1 million in taxes is being spent on Welcome Stadium. Look at supplemental contracts for after school programs that total into hundreds of thousands of dollars in most school districts. Look at sports medicine contracts that some school districts have, transportation to athletic competitions, etc. Then observe the lack of funds for textbooks, smaller class sizes,foreign language offerings, gifted ed services, etc. The public education system should already provide a “one stop information center” to discuss options for students and families, including charter schools, home school support, post secondary enrollment option, and on-line schools. Public education should be looked upon as a system not a building.