White Spot, a popular BC restaurant chain solicits hamburger concepts from third and fourth grade students and one of their ideas becomes a feature on the kids' menu. Home Depot donates playground equipment to an elementary school, and the ribbon-cutting ceremony culminates in a community swathed in corporate swag, temporary tattoos, and a new "Home Depot song" written by a teacher and sung by the children. Kindergarten students return home with a school district-prescribed dental hygiene flyer featuring a maze leading to a tube of Crest toothpaste. Schools receive five cents for each flyer handed to a student. While commercialism has existed in our schools for over a century, the corporate invasion of our schools reached unprecedented heights in the1990s and 2000s after two decades of federal funding cuts and an increasing tendency to apply business models to the education system. Constant cutbacks have left school trustees, administrators, teachers, and parents with difficult decisions about how to finance programs and support students. Meanwhile, studies on the impact of advertising and consumer culture on children make clear that the effects are harmful both to the individual child and the broader culture. Captive Audience explores this compelling history of branding the classroom in Canada.

Every cent counts in education! Expenses must be managed and income maximised within the framework of the law, regulations and policies governing education. The management of finances in public schools remains a big challenge for most involved in the education sector. The purpose of Financial Management in Public Schools is to provide an overview of the most important legislation affecting school finances, and to explain their practical implications. This book aims to address the key areas of the framework of financial management in public schools and to serve as a practical guide for governing body members, principals and financial officers at schools, while education officials, legal practitioners, accountants and auditors serving schools in an advisory capacity will find it equally useful. Written by well-known practitioners in the field of school governance and finances, Financial Management in Public Schools provides invaluable practical advice on the management of finances in public schools.