photo credit: billaday
Poway Unified School District in Southern California chose to trim the budget for materials instead of cutting staff. Unfortunately, this required teachers to use their own money, beg parents for funds or give fewer tests.
Not one to slack on pop quizzes, Calculus teacher Tom Farber has figured out a way around his school district’s budget cuts by selling advertising on his tests and quizzes. His customers are local businesses, like a mom and pop tuxedo rental shop that purchased an ad before prom.
Farber’s customers pay $10 for an ad on a quiz, $20 to be on a chapter test and $30 for a spot on a semester final. Some of the quotes, either personal ones or by famous people, are paid for by parents.
The messages must be appropriate and in good taste. Farber hasn’t received sponsorships from any major retailers or store chains, but he hasn’t ruled them out.
Is there a business opportunity in selling advertising on test and quizzes? You bet! If you could line up enough teachers in a geographic area, you could sell little ads for much more than $10 a quiz. You could have the advertising printed onto reams of otherwise blank copy paper that you’d then provide for free to the teachers for use when duplicating their tests.
Have you ever done anything like this? Last year, we interviewed someone doing something similar, but selling advertising in notebooks.