The Toronto District School Board has been approached about its first corporate donation since offering naming rights in exchange for sponsorship.

The TDSB will discuss the proposal at its meeting on Thursday night.

The province is cutting the TDSB's funding for computers by 21 per cent, so Future Shop is offering to create computer labs in two secondary schools in "less affluent" neighbourhoods.

But the company says it will only make donations to a secondary school within seven kilometres of one of its stores, and it wants the computer rooms painted pale grey with red trim — Future Shop's corporate colours.

Derik Mootoosingh, a Grade 12 student at Winston Churchill Collegiate in Scarborough, says he doesn't care about the conditions — he just wants up-to-date computers. His high school could be in line for the new computers.

Mootoosingh says the existing computers are slow and the software is outdated, and therefore he likes Future Shop's offer of two computer labs worth $50,000 each.

"I think that'd be pretty good because it'll help us," he said. "It'll brighten up the classroom, and make it look better and promote them [Future Shop] too."

But that concerns Annie Kidder of the parents group People for Education.

Kidder says school boards looking to fill gaps in their funding need to consider carefully what they're willing to do in exchange for donations.

"Companies, in particular, who may donate money, are likely to make provisos in terms of that money. I think that too is a very serious change in education," said Kidder.

Trustee Bruce Davis has mixed feelings about the proposal.

"This time it'll be the colours, the next time it'll be a swoosh, the next time it'll be arches."

'I think that's a good thing for kids'

However, Davis admits the provincial cuts to the board's computer budget are leaving schools with near-obsolete technology.

"So when someone comes to us and says, 'We'd like to fit up a couple of science labs,' I think that's a good thing for kids."

TDSB chair John Campbell isn't worried about the conditions.

"Personally I'm in favour of receiving any kind of corporate donation providing there aren't too many strings attached," says Campbell.

"I don't think that [the conditions are] too onerous. They're not insisting that their corporate logo be emblazoned on the walls or [on] the door leading to this technology room."

The company is hinting it may donate more computer labs next year.