With school budgets tighter than they've been in several years, a growing number of school leaders nationwide are tapping into a revenue stream that many people believe should have no place in academia: corporate sponsorships. Now, two new organizations aim to profit by bringing schools and companies together, helping schools earn money for technology and other programs in exchange for the right to attach, or "brand," a company's name to their initiatives.

California-based Wise Connection is a unique marketing firm whose mission is to play matchmaker for cash-strapped schools and civic-minded corporations. For a fee, the company matches schools with local businesses interested in sponsoring anything from school building renovations to new computer labs or even ice-cream socials.

The America's Schools Program (ASP), also of California, has created a national licensing program that enlists schools and businesses. Participating organizations adopt and display a special ASP logo indicating their support of the program. Companies pay for the right to take part, and most of the proceeds go to participating schools.

Though the methodologies of the two organizations differ, their goals are the same: to broker successful business relationships between schools and corporations. Such deals are win-win situations for all involved, the companies say: Schools get extra money to supplement their budgets, and businesses get additional exposure and the good will generated by their financial support.

But not everyone agrees. One outspoken critic of the practice is Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a nonprofit organization that opposes what it calls the "commercialization" of the nation's schools.

"We send kids to school to teach them how to read and write and learn to think--not to shop," he said. Even if companies direct their marketing campaigns to parents as opposed to students, Ruskin said, the concept itself is ethically flawed.

"Integrity means respect," he added. "[This practice] essentially turns the school into an auxiliary huckster and at substantial risk to the school's integrity."

Wise Connection

Bracing for a third straight year of budget reductions, officials at the Scotts Valley Unified School District in northern California recently tapped Wise Connection to recruit corporate sponsors who could help take some of the sting out of education-related spending cuts.

Scotts Valley officials expect they'll be forced to cut close to $1 million from a $15 million budget next year. And with approximately 85 percent of the district's budget focused on payroll, there isn't likely to be much left over to support technology initiatives and other classroom programs, said school board member Allison Niday.

According to Michele Tummino, Wise Connection's founder and director of community relations, the idea is to approach only those potential benefactors who have demonstrated a commitment to the community and who have a vested interest in preparing tomorrow's workforce for success in a 21st-century economy.