COLUMBUS — Desperate to find more money for schools, the Ohio government may soon carve out spaces on its Internet Web sites for advertisers.

        The proposal was an 11th-hour addition to the $44.9 billion state budget the Ohio General Assembly approved Wednesday. It would require the state to seek out and hire a private company to sell advertising space on agency Web sites.

        Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale, said the idea was first discussed months ago in private meetings with the governor as one of the more creative ways to raise money without raising taxes. Mr. Finan said the only concern was that the state would be able to bar certain advertisers from state Web sites, such as porn ads.

        Gov. Bob Taft said he has res ervations about the proposal.

        “I have some concerns about whether the state should be in the business of selling advertising to private companies on its Web site. There are a lot of policy issues that are raised by such a proposal — First Amendment issues, who has the right to advertise on that site, and who doesn't, who decides who can advertise on that site.”

        Mr. Taft said he couldn't say whether he would veto the proposal but said he would look at it very carefully.

        Most state agencies have some kind of Internet presence. At the very least, the sites contain basic information about the agencies and their programs.

        Mr. Finan said he had no idea just how many people look at state government Web pages as opposed to much more popular private-sector sites.

        “I would imagine state employees look at those sites,” Mr. Finan said. “I think that would be a pretty fertile field.”

       The Associated Press contributed
       

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