The myth of lottery school aid

SACBEE ^ | 30 APRIL 2007 | Dan Walters

[radar101]

A reader in Santa Barbara County asked this question via postcard recently: "Have you ever done research into the money that goes into the California Lottery? It was supposed to solve all problems of finances to the public school system. What happened to that money?"

The inquiry embraces one of California's most commonly held -- and highly erroneous -- beliefs, that the state lottery approved by voters in 1984 is, or should be, a major source of financing for the public schools.

Those who wrote the lottery initiative -- the maker of "scratch-off" lottery tickets, primarily -- cleverly designed the measure to foster that belief. The net proceeds of the games would go to schools and the campaign used the slogan, "The schools win, too," to sell the lottery to voters.

It was, however, nothing more than a political con job. If you tell someone that players pump $3.6 billion into lottery tickets each year and that a third of that, some $1.2 billion, goes to the schools, it sounds like a lot of money -- and it certainly would be to anyone whose name isn't Gates, Ellison or Buffett.

[radar101]

One of the reasons that I’m glad to be gone from California:
The Lottery people PROMISED that if the lottery was voted in, schools would never need or ask for money again.
Yet, EVERY election has a bond measure on it, asking for MORE money for schools—that don’t educate or discipline.

[traditional1]

Exactly the same as the lies politicians used in the "Tobacco Settlement", where it was to pay for the "burdens, past and future, on the States' Health Care Systems"....

I'm still waiting for the State to send me my check for the offset of my Medical Insurance Premiums that were "caused by smokers"....

[backhoe]

The same scam goes on in Georgia- they promised the money was going to the schools, "for our children," yet the schools always are short of money and need more taxes every year.

Lotto is just a tax on the greedy and stupid.

And a cash cow for bureaucrats and politicians... kind of like "Food for Oil" was for the UN...

[yankeedame]

This may be a little off the subject but I heard on the local talk-radio this morning that the state of Ohio (where I'm at) has one of the oldest, least educated populations of any and all states.

So, apparently what "they" want to do to correct this is create a $100,000,000 ($100m) fund that will give every student $5K towards collage and $2.5 towards voc-tec...in addition to everything else. That, of course, means they're probably (rolls eyes) raise taxes.

"But isn't it worth it?" came the not too subtle suggestion. To which I thought, "Oh yeah? Well, what about all that hoop-de-doo over the lottery?? Education and all that stuff? What happened to that?"

[Lizavetta]

the lottery hasn't been growing nearly as fast as school costs -- in part, perhaps, because of the rise of full-scale casinos operated by Indian tribes.

Interesting.

[NonValueAdded]

California, don’t make the same mistake Florida did with respect to their lottery. The simple truth is that the Lottery generates lots of money and in that respect lives up to its promises. Surpassed them, actually. What happened, though, is that the politicians saw all that money and cut way back on the funds they were providing. The media got the sheeple to jump all over the lottery folks and ran some good people out of the state, people who were making the lottery work well. Not one word was said about the pols who actually caused the net budget cuts. There are plenty of reasons to dislike a lottery but don’t take your eyes off the pols.

[sticker]

Sounds alot like TN: When they were pushing the pro-lotttery vote we were told that if a student met the GPA and ACT requirements that received X amount of money for in state colleges and Y amount for out of state study. Once the lottery passed, there were demands for a lower GPA and ACT requirements, they also cut off the funding for students attending out of state schools. So they have a large percentage of students(using that term very loosely)flunking out during their 1st semester, so there is a movement to lower the required GPA for their freshman year. They also have a huge surplus that Bredesen is using as a slush fund to pay off the teacher’s union by starting.

[zeugma]

What happened, though, is that the politicians saw all that money and cut way back on the funds they were providing.

Money is fungible.  

[NonValueAdded]

Money might be fungible but budgetary authority is not.

[tcrlaf]

I call it the “Stupid And Poor Tax”, as I stand behind people spending $75 of thier welfare checks on scratch-offs at the beginning of every month....