Calling all marketers!  Presenting the newest way to speak to that hard-to-reach teen demographic.

When the Rancho Bernardo (CA) school district recently slashed its budget by one-third, calculus teacher Tom Farber realized he had a problem.  He’s pretty good at math, and could calculate that he wouldn’t be able to afford enough paper and toner to prepare his kids for the AP Test.  So Farber did what any sane American would do:  he started selling ad space on his tests.  A blurb on Tom’s Quiz will set you back $10, a Chapter Test runs $20, and that spread advertisement on the Final will cost you 30 clams.

And can ya blame him?  The average teacher spends over $400 of his or her meager income on supplies for their kids, according to the National Education Association.  They’re looking for deals on Craig’s list, they’re hitting the close-out sale at WalMart, they’re asking for support from local corporations.  But as budgets continue declining, they’re stuck covering the difference.

So far, Farber has sold $350 worth of advertising, including space for a dentist’s ad that reads “Brace Yourself for a Great Semester!”  Which got us thinking about the possibility of this new teen medium.  Imagine:  “Drop the AXE on bad grades,” “Avoid Mid-Term blemishes with Clearasil” or perhaps “Study Hard. Trojan.”  (Sorry, was that last one disrupting the class? We’ll go see the principal now…)

This economic crisis is horrible, and we feel for Mr. Farber.  But hey, we’re ad guys; we’re always putting a positive spin on things.  So until the budget gap is closed in Rancho Bernardo, we support the new medium.  We’re thinking the kids aren’t just learning Math.  They’re getting a crash course in Economics and Communications.