After another recent discussion here about Decatur’s tuition students – and Decatur class sizes vs. the extra cash they bring into the school system – I thought I’d bring this to everyone’s attention.

I came across a pretty interesting article in the AJC hard-copy yesterday, titled “Cobb high schools sell marquee space”, which focused on Cobb County’s Lassiter High School efforts to sell local advertising on its marquee along busy Shallowford Road.  The article states that a full rotation of ads could make the school system $50,000 in a given year and that recent funds were used to pay for new turf for the athletic field.

According to the article, other school systems around Atlanta – including DeKalb – have yet to consider advertising, while Forsyth County recently deemed it inappropriate.  However, those in favor of such a set-up note that school sports venues have long allowed advertising.  Is there an ethical difference between an outfield wall and a school marquee?

In this time of ongoing education penny-pinching, should more school systems look into allowing local advertising outside of schools?  Or is it too sticky a situation?