CA: Schools' lottery share no jackpot

Mercury News ^ | 5/19/03 | Larry Slonaker and Joelle Tessler

[NormsRevenge]

Maybe it was hyperbole; maybe it was just frustration. But at a recent town hall meeting at the Santa Clara County Office of Education, state schools chief Jack O'Connell uttered a surprisingly stark pronouncement. The California lottery, he said, ``has done more to hurt public education than almost anything.''

[blackdog]

The truth hurts. That and other realities that professional educators are discovering.

[Balding_Eagle]

The solution here is so obvious I'm surprised the Libs haven't come up with it.

The Lottery winners are wealthy. It's THEIR fault that the children don't receive a 'fair share'.

Every Lottory winner should be punished by being forced into giving up 1/2 of his winnings.

It's 'for the children' after all.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Despite nearly unanimous evidence to the contrary, voters across the fruited plain will continue to approve revenue schemes (e.g. lotteries) that are claimed to benefit THE CHILDREN.

[lilylangtree]

In order to get the state lottery approved by the voters in the mid-80's, Washington officials embarked on a lying campaign telling the voters that all the monies raised from the lottery would go for education. The truth is out and very little (less than 1/4 of 1%) actually goes for education. All lottery monies are plopped into the general fund from which the politicos take as needed depending upon whose vote they go after or which special interest lobbies the hardest.

[So Cal Rocket]

Seriously... I think you may have hit upon the solution...

Instead of running the schools share (~35%) of the lottery funds through the state school bureaucracy - give the additional 35% to the winner of the lottery with the stipulation that he/she must donate it the school/school district of their choice. This does several things:

1. Eliminates the siphoning of funds for administration of the lottery funds... the funds go directly to the school or the school district.

2. The school administrators will not be able to rely on receiving ANY funds, so they will have to budget assuming a lower funding level. Therefore, the additional lottery funds that may come to a school will be a windfall, and will actually make a difference... new computers, new books, facilities improvements, etc...

3. Lottery sales may go up. If people see that the lottery funds are ACTUALLY making a difference in the schools, then they may be more inclined to play.

SCR

[Fudd]

Every Lottory winner should be punished by being forced into giving up 1/2 of his winnings.

Every lotto winner does get punished by surrendering half his winnings (and then some). In my fair state, winners don't get the full $$- they either get it in 20 annual payments (if you die early, too bad), or a lump sum which is the present-value equivalent of the 20 payments invested at some interest rate (about half of the "jackpot"). Then they tax it.

[PetroniDE]

When you consider the odds of winning versus the payout, they already surrender more than half. Then consider the taxes, annual payments, and consideration of split winners. They already do get punished.

Here is the "Perfect" liberal solution. Have the lottery, and NO ONE EVER WINS. All winnings are taxed at 100%. Don't laugh; some people would still play it.

[detsaoT]

Ha! Conservatives have been saying that this would happen for years. The left is so far behind us, it's not even funny any more.

:) ttt

[Psycho_Bunny]

The complaint among educators has been that the lottery, which was launched in 1985 with grandiose promises about sending cash to schools, has delivered far less than most Californians think -- and as a result, has diverted other funding the schools would otherwise get.

OMG.  How stupid do you have to have been not to foresee that's what would happen?  I mean, that's a "given".

The contribution (1 billion) is only about 2 percent of the overall state education budget.

The CA state education budget is around 50 billion?  LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

What a joke.

[hattend]

During the 2001-02 year, the lottery contributed about $135 per child. By comparison, the state Department of Education estimates that districts spent an average of $7,119 in state funding per child that year.

Holy crap! No wonder the state is going broke. 30 kids to a class x 7 large = $210K a year per classroom. Let's say the teachers get 40K of that. Is it really costing $170K a year to keep a classroom heated/cooled and furnished?

Fire 3 administrators for every 1 teacher and the school budget crisis would soon be over.

[Balding_Eagle]

Here is the "Perfect" liberal solution. Have the lottery, and NO ONE EVER WINS. All winnings are taxed at 100%. Don't laugh; some people would still play it.

LOL! You win!

[Feiny]

Exactly. Complete waste & mismanagement which the NEA refuses to acknowledge or investigate due to their own corruption. I would never ever send a child I loved to public school. Our nations schools have been a mess for over 30 years....remember Reagan campaigning on elimination the Dept. of Education?

[hattend]

....remember Reagan campaigning on elimination the Dept. of Education?

Yep and Gingrich in '94, also.

This monolithic monster is hard to kill.

To much power and cultural manipulation would be given up if the DOE was closed. It's a presidential cabinet position...that makes it permanent. Too Bad, BTTT!