Good morning, class. Today's math lesson is brought to you by Dunkin' Donuts, the official sponsor of the Manchester School District. Did you know Dunkin' has been baking up deliciousness for over 60 years?

If you want to buy a Big N' Toasted breakfast sandwich for $3.80 and a dozen Boston Kremes for $6.49, how much would you have to recharge your $10 Dunkin Donuts card if you still want to buy your mom a large Dunkaccino for $2.28? (Prices and participation may vary.)

I've been around long enough to remember when Dunkin' Donuts had radio jingles that pitched them as “fresh every four hours,” and a doughnut was a perfectly acceptable menu item in a school cafeteria. So the ubiquitous coffee dynasty was the first potential corporate suitor that came to mind when I learned the Manchester Board of School Committee was considering allowing limited advertising in district schools.

Come on, board members, you think sticking a couple of Joe's Plumbing & Heating signs on a gymnasium wall is going to solve your fiscal crisis. Think big! Remember: America runs on Dunkin'! Why not our schools?

The Board of School Committee is expected to be reviewing a draft policy next month that would allow some ads on school property. Whether a Dunkin' Donuts sign in the cafeteria would past muster will be the kind of question the board might be weighing (though with the current national furor over the nutritional content of schools lunches, that's probably a doughnut they won't be dunking for awhile.)

While the prospect of more commercial messages might seem troubling, the revenues the advertising could bring to shore up school funding could help save programs that otherwise might end up on the chopping block.

That's how Jeff Eisenberg, president of EVR Advertising, sees it. Before Eisenberg bought the Manchester agency a few years ago, he had a lengthy career in sports marketing for major league baseball and hockey. He's used to targeting a family demographic.

“When it becomes a choice between introducing this in our school systems or cutting academic programs or a music program or a sports team, I think the choice is clear,” Eisenberg said. “I'm not discounting the importance of doing it carefully. I do believe there are clearly negative messages that we would need to deal with … That can't be so daunting to scare us away from the issues.”

A Colorado school district generated national attention when it introduced advertising in elementary school report cards. But the sponsor, a nonprofit college savings program, is the type of advertiser that could help promote positive messages the Manchester schools might want to allow.

Eisenberg would add computer companies, health clubs and car dealers to a list of potential advertisers. One of his clients, a bike shop, could be a good fit, he said.

“I would suggest they use this opportunity to promote helmet safety. I can't imagine anyone having a problem with that,” he said. “There are real creative win-wins.”

Bill Mathis, managing director of the National Education Policy Center in Boulder, Colo., whose fellows have done research on how advertising in schools affects students, says districts should be wary about increasing commercial involvement.

“It could be advertising unhealthy food. It could be advertising whatever is popular, such as sneakers,” he said. “I don't think schools should become a commercial outfit in that regard.”

But the former Vermont schools superintendent is less concerned about local businesses hanging signs on gym walls than he is about commercial interests gaining more influence in education, alluding to the Gates Foundation, which has invested $300 million in education reform tied to computer-based standardized testing.

“That is probably a bigger impact than placards in school buses and signs in the hallway,” he says. “Once you become dependent on outside monies it defeats the purpose of public support of education. If you become dependent upon outside sources for revenue, you become beholden to them in terms of policy interests. That's not the direction you'd like to go.”

In other words, while introducing advertising into city schools, dear school board, don't sell your souls. Even for a Dunkin' Donut.

Kids, if your answer to the math problem is $2.57, you are wrong and get an F. You forgot to add the 9 percent New Hampshire prepared meals tax into your calculation.

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Mike Cote is business editor at the Union Leader. Contact him at 668-4321, ext. 324 or mcote@unionleader.com.