MANCHESTER — In a community outside Salt Lake City, school buses sport banners promoting businesses. At high school football games in Winter Park, Fla., the play-by-play announcer slips in pitches for Powerade. And in a suburban Denver district, elementary school report cards include paid advertising.

Cash-strapped school districts have begun to relax restrictions on commercial messages, aiming to shore up their dwindling resources.

A preliminary proposal to allow limited advertising in Manchester public schools may still have a way to go before getting final approval from the full school board. Finding potential advertisers may be much easier than agreeing on what qualifies as appropriate.

The Manchester school board Coordination Committee signed off last week on a draft policy that would allow some ads on school property such as sports venues and cafeterias, provided the product or organization behind the marketing meets district approval.

The measure is expected to go before the full Board of School Committee when it meets Nov. 13. Board member Debra Gagnon Langton is among those who will have questions.

“Obviously I’d to see revenue come into the district, but at what cost?” Gagnon Langton said. “I think it could be a little bit of a slippery slope — what you can advertise in a school that’s appropriate?”

Nashua stadium

The policy bans tobacco products, alcohol, gambling and weapons. Religious and political organizations and their messages, anything considered sexually explicit, obscene or offensive would also be off-limits. Gagnon Langton said she still needed to see the draft the committee approved last week, but was doubtful any policy can be worked out soon.

Board member John Avard is leading the proposal and told the committee last week that the district “needs to look outside our normal areas” to find revenue for the district.

The policy is adapted from similar measures in Palmer, Mass., Jefferson County, Colo., and Nashua, where a plan to install electronic signs at Stellos Stadium is awaiting final clearance.

While the Nashua plan is limited to the stadium, Manchester’s would be open to other facilities throughout the district as well as publications.

“Such advertising will seek to model and promote positive values for the students of the Manchester School District,” the policy states. “Preferred advertising includes messages that encourage student achievement and the establishment of high standards of personal conduct.” The policy specifies that placement of an ad does not constitute an endorsement by the board or district.

School buses

The Jordan School District in suburban Salt Lake City has been selling ad space on school buses since April. The initial response was slow, but since classes resumed this year, business has picked up considerably, said Herb Jensen, Jordan transportation director.

“There weren’t many advertisers that wanted to pay to have their ads placed on a bus sitting in the yard during summer,” Jensen said. “It’s moving along. It’s a lot busier now that school has started.”

Jensen said last week that the marketing company the district contracts to sell the ad space told him 60 new ads had been added to the account, which would put ads on roughly half of the district’s 210 buses. Jensen said the bus ads had generated about $35,000 — 63 percent of which goes to the district’s transportation department.

“I had some real concerns about if we were compromising safety of our buses. I’m still concerned about that. but we haven’t had any situations or accidents,” Jensen said. “The whole purpose of advertising is to look at it. If you’re looking at an ad, you’re not paying attention to the kids on the bus.”

On report cards

A recent NBC Nightly News segment on advertising in schools spotlighted Winter Park, Fla., where banners for restaurant chains, a sportswear maker and a local yogurt shop adorned the walls of the gymnasium during a pep rally for a football game. Spending cuts fueled the decision, an administrator for the Orlando-area district told the news network.

The Jefferson County district outside Denver, Colo., allowed CollegeInvest, a nonprofit college savings program, to start placing ads on elementary school report cards last year.

“I was kind of joking and said ‘It would be great if we could get on the report cards because that’s something every parent reads,’” CollegeInvest spokeswoman Angela Baier said. “What better way to get the word out about saving for higher education?” Baier said board members were initially reluctant, but reconsidered because the nonprofit organization’s goal is to help families plan ahead and pay for their children to go to college.

“We’ve heard a growing number of people saying they heard about us on report cards,” Baier said.

dalden@unionleader.com