Opinion:Editorials
by The Providence Journal editorial board

Post no bills
05/22/2003
Beverly, Mass., has approved selling ads in school buses. What a depressing bit of news. And Boston has given preliminary approval to a similarly repellent program. Surely local schools and their expenses, and state aid, could be managed in such a way to avoid further commercializing public education.

Indeed, this is a debasement of civic culture. As Paul Schlichtman, president of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, said: "We should be funding public education as a community. What kind of message are we sending our kids if we send them to school on buses pushing candy and soda?"

The current state law letting communities peddle school-bus advertising bars liquor, tobacco, drugs and gambling ads, and the ads can make up no more than a quarter of the exterior of a bus. But we wonder how long these restrictions will last. After all, Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun are short drives away.

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