In an unusual move for metro-area public schools, those in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district may soon start selling advertising space on their websites.

Web ads would be allowed under new rules reviewed by the school board this week and could start springing up as early as September, said district spokesman Tony Taschner.

Such ads are forbidden by Minneapolis public schools, but Rosemount leaders see them as a way to raise money in an era of tight budgets. "Schools are fairly anxious to start," Taschner said.

Web ads are one piece of a district budget-patching plan that also includes millions of dollars in cuts for the upcoming school year. The ads -- for colleges, local businesses and the like -- would consist of either a small logo or a link to a company's website, Taschner said. It's unclear how much money such ads could generate.

Schools are no stranger to ads: Many have long permitted them on everything from theater programs to stadium scoreboards. As Superintendent Jane Berenz put it, "We're already advertising. It's just how much do we extend it?"

They could extend it much further. One company has even offered to wrap school lockers with the kinds of ads that blanket many city buses. The company has told the district it could make nearly $1 million a year by wrapping about half its lockers.

The school board was quick to reject that idea. Even so, times have changed, Taschner said. When the company's president approached him, "I said, 'Ten years ago, I don't even think I would be taking the time to talk to you.'"

But with school budgets increasingly pinched, Taschner told him, "Yeah, I'll see what you've got to say."

On Monday, the board reviewed new rules that apply to ads of any kind. Those include a list of things that ads can't promote, such as drugs, weapons or political viewpoints. Principals must screen ads and may reject them if they're deemed to be misleading or inconsistent with the district's goals.

Taschner said he hasn't heard of any other Minnesota districts selling ad space on their websites.

Anoka-Hennepin, the state's largest district, has made changes to its advertising policy that would allow ads on its website, but they won't appear anytime soon, said communications director Mary Olson.

"It's just been kind of something that you don't do," said Olson, "because people are bombarded with ads so often."

With most online ads containing links, she said, "you don't know what's out there, and what they have on their site, unless you're monitoring it all the time."

That doesn't mean the district wouldn't consider it, she said.

"We may watch and see how it's going in [Rosemount]."

Sarah Lemagie • 952-882-9016 Emily Johns contributed to this report.