Lottery money still invested in education, but targeted differently than it used to be
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida Lottery education dollars that used to go mainly to K-12 education are now being spread into several different educational initiatives, raising the ire of local Superintendents, but pleasing those who feel that education spending should be more diverse.
Nearby 4 billion dollars was spent on the Florida Lottery last year. It's money lawmakers promised would go to education. But according to information from the Department of Education and Duval County Public Schools, Duval County schools received less than three dollars per student.
The lottery was approved by voters back in 1986. The major selling point for the bill was that the gambling dollars would go right into our classrooms, but the fact is, that's not entirely true.
"Voters were sold on it as being an enhancement for education, and that's not what it turned out to be?" a WTEV reporter asked Duval County Schools Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals.
Pratt-Dannals: "Absolutely, it has not."
Superintendent Pratt-Dannals, who has worked in the Duval County School District since the 1970's, remembers when the lottery money started rolling in. At one point Duval County received more than $32 million dollars in discretionary money from the lottery. That's money the county could use where it was needed the most.
But fast forward to last year, when the district, which has 125,000 students, received $370,404 dollars in discretionary money. That breaks down to just $2.96 cents per student.
WTEV spoke with Governor Rick Scott, and asked the Governor about how lottery dollars are used. "Would you support pushing lawmakers into putting more lottery money into K-12?"
Governor Scott has proposed a Billion dollar increase in education this year, and he wants lawmakers to help boost lottery sales to help pay for it.
We asked if that was the best use of Florida's lottery dollars. According to the Governor, "The Florida Lottery money should go to education and it does go to education."
But parents and lawmakers may disagree on what "education" really means. By law, the first lottery money payout goes to Bright Futures, a merit based scholarship program that wasn't around when the lottery was first passed. In the 2010-2011 fiscal year, that meant 26 percent of $1.2 billion in lottery money.
Community Colleges and Universities took 28 percent and two percent went to "other financial aid." That left 44 percent for K-12. That sounds like a lot, but most of that money was earmarked for very specific programs such as the class size amendment, capitol projects, and recognition programs. The means the actual spending money that counties get is a fraction of what it used to be.
In Duval County, even with the Governor's proposed budget increase, the district is looking at another $50 million dollar shortfall this year.
Superintendent Pratt-Dannals does not feel that lawmakers are making the right decisions about where lottery money goes. "I think it should go where it was originally intended, that is discretionary funding for school districts."
Trey Csar, with the non-profit Jacksonville Public Education Fund, agrees. "The politicians we elect have to decide what takes priority in terms of learning resources. K-12 is where it begins and it's up to elected officials to make that call."
State Senator John Thrasher voted for the Florida Lottery, even though he doesn't play. He too, believed the money would be used to enhance our classrooms. "We'd all like to increase discretional money, but I think it starts with having enough money in general revenue."
Over the years, lawmakers have funneled lottery money into programs that weren't around when the lottery was passed. Now, the only way to get counties more discretionary money is to take it from somewhere else. Senator Thrasher says, "Can we provide more flexible money in these tough economic times, to use where they have more discretion, absolutely I would be in favor of that and we are working on that."
Several lawmakers, along with local school leaders, have discussed temporarily suspending the School Recognition Program. It awards money to the state's top performing schools. Last year it meant $4.3 million dollars for Duval County. By temporarily suspending the program, counties could use the money where it's needed the most. But Governor Rick Scott said that he would not support that move, saying top performing schools should be rewarded and their success be used as an example for struggling schools.
Thanks to lottoballz for the tip.
What do you think? Should lottery money be 100% poured into K-12 education, or should it be spent in a more diverse way, like various scholarships, rewards, and community colleges, in addition to K-12?
I agree with the current allocation. Sure K-12 is important, but I would say funding for scholarships, rewards, and community colleges is just as important. I am also suspect about the utilization of discretionary funds in any government setting as there are plentiful stories of discretionary funds not being spent in appropriate ways, or just outright fraudulent ways. And this targeted budgeting is unlike earmarks in that those education entities are enduring whereas many earmark projects are temporal.
This guy bellyaching about the paltry discretionary funding needs to get out and visit businesses that are having to make tough decisions about their operations in light of current credit crunch...or visit families having to make tough decisions about which bill to pay this month...and just be happy with what he has and make the best use of it.
I think lots of that money goes to the states pet projects instead of education....its clear in many states that this is common practice. there is no agency to police the lottery so they are almost free to allocate funds to whatever cause they like.
Poured into K-12 education and scholarships for college bound highschool graduates.
First off, no matter what decision is made someone will not be happy. Having said that I believe there should be the option for flexibility in the discretionary spending of Florida's lotto funds. Political and educational climates are always changing, and there should be powers in place which allow changes in the direction of funds as deemed appropriate for a particular contingent.
If everything is in concrete, these changing situations cannot be addressed. Try common sense as well.
Education spending could be 100% of the budget of the entire state government and the kids will NOT come out any better! There's never enough according to the "authorities"! And accountability is next to none. The more money you give government for Education, the less intelligent most kids will be when they graduate, if they do graduate.
Good point Lottery Playa.
Just Throwing gob's of money at problems doesn't alway's guarantee a solution.
Put the money into K-12 schools.If a person wants more education,let them pay for it themselves.They'll appreciate that education more if they have to foot the entire bill for it.
Wow, lots of really great points made here. I wish politicians would make substantive points like these, rather than throwing out one-liners and talking points.
Wish in one hand, s%#t in the other hand...see which hand fills up first~;)
Honestly, keep the money 100% for grades K-12. Spending it in a more diverse way (scholarships, community colleges, etc) divides the money more, in my opinion. I really am undecided but thankfully there's an investigation going on.. how the education money is being spent. Besides some of the public schools really need that money.
Community colleges and scholarships already get paid for by government and other sources.
Being a Florida resident and having offspring in school, I have come to a few different conclusions about this "more diverse way" of spending theory... I have seen the bonuses teachers get from their grades doing well on the FCAT, but I have also seen the schools that continue to get rated with an F when it comes to FCAT as well. They took the principal from the elementary school where my "monsters" went and put that person into a failing school several years ago....That Principal was able to only bring that school up to a D ranking at best after significant years elapsed....Look at the billions spent on education since the 60s and how much of an increase have test scores gone up throughout the nation ? Very little from the articles I have researched.. The bottom line for me and my opinion is you can throw all the money in the world at education but until parents accept responsibility and make their kids study to get A & B grades, take a sincere interest in their education, very little would be done to improve the current standard.
How do I know this ??..last summer I took a course at a local college. My class was mixed with college kids, H.S kids(doing dual enrollment) and a few adults. We each had to read a paragraph out loud from the book that was course assigned. I listened to 3 diff H.S students read. The 1st did well but the 2nd and 3rd kid couldn't read for squat. I was looking at my book and thinking I was on the wrong page or chapter. After I spoke with my professor and she advised me it was the students from that area in the county that do badly on the FCAT because she had seen it over the last X number of years..... So all that money that FL residents and visitors have thrown into the education system has not done well in some areas surrounding where I reside. Has it done better in others ?? Unknown to me at this time..Could be...again, thats just my humble opinion based on personal observation.
I think the money should go to K-12 and some of it to the first two years of college. The only problem I have is that I feel that NONE of the money should go to teacher salaries or bonuses. It all should go to getting updated technology for the students, newer learning tools, laptops, new science equipment, scientific calculators, etc. The schools could be updated maybe 10 at a time. and when all are finished, then the improvements should be maintained on a regular basis. I have never understood why schools are not required to furnish the students with Ipads, laptops(if they don't ipads), ebook readers, etc. If the US wants to improve student learning, they need to improve the tools students work with. The old ways of learning are drab and tedious; the new student who is expected learn needs new tools for a new way of learning.
I could not have said it better myself.
Bring the technology into the classrooms and teach the children the skills needed to enter into the workforce.
Help lower the unemployment rate by teaching the kids marketable skills while in school. Start job training in the 7th and 8th grade so when graduation roll around these kids will have some experience under their belts.
I think we should start at the begining, the bulk should go to K-12, we should start them up there on the path that they should go and hopefully they will not depart from it. If we fail at that level they will never make it to college level or any other level. Just my two cents.
-Michael J. Smith
In the state of sc, 6.9% of a teacher's check is taken out and put into the retirement system. That teacher can retire after 28 years and draw a check. Guess what? There is an alarming amount of teachers in sc that are retiring and the state can't pay them. So they are thinking about taking 7.9% now and making the teachers do 30 years instead of 28 like they do in nc. Btw, teachers in nc have not had a raise in 4 years.
My question..WHERE IS THE SO CALLED EDUCATION LOTTERY MONEY GOING?? My guess...someone's pocket.
what about those that chose home schooling? they shouldnt be left out either. a grant system for home schooling should ber set up.
on a tangental note, lucky they didnt get my old math teacher to run the lottery, he rekoned only idiots play lottery.
schools are a failure. home schooling is the answer. let k-12 continue to be the day care centers. invest the money in vouchers for private schools for the poor. i used to teach at a university and the kids were ignorant. teach them hoe to clean and mow grass. the results will be the same.
I approve any measure that will investigate Florida Lottery and make sure that they are doing what they are supposed to legally
They should leave it alone and keep it the same. As soon as they make an exception for this, they will make an exception for that.... next thing you know, no one can keep track of where the funds are going and the fed will step in and close down the lottery. Well, maybe not that bad lol but if they want to utilize funds, perhaps they should create new games for that ?!?!?!?!?!? Know what Im saying?
The "for the chil-ren" angle gets the saps every time.
It's not like the pols are going to see a pile of money sitting there and go "Now, now, we must leave that for its exact purported purposes, and not steer it to a pet project."
The whole money-grab and indoctrination scam known as "public schooling" should be shut down.
The money originally was supposed to go into k-12 education so it is not an exception.
I take it you don't work. Guess what? Teachers are people in case you did not know. You telling me if you worked and your company did not give you a raise, that would be okay with you? That what's happening in nc with the teachers. No raises, but more work is pile on from people who have never been in the classroom. They sit on their ass in Raleigh and dream up stupid stuff for teachers to do.
The cost of living goes up every year and teachers in nc have not had a raise in 4 years. Even a kid can do the math on this one!!
I take it take you have not been in a classroom, the kids have nice calculators, smartboards, computers. They are allowed to bring ipads and some instances cell phones. The kids have everything EXCEPT PARENTING. The parents can't handle their own kids but expect teachers to work miracles with their bad, undisciplined, snotty-nose chaps.
Now like i said...WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING FROM THE SO-CALLED EDUCATION LOTTERY????????????
The sad part of all this is that lottery money has been used, especially the past 10-15 years, as 'in lieu of' funding for schools. That means taxes are cut, or funding to schools decreased, in the amount (sometimes less as here in Virginia) transfered from lottery 'aid'. One big reason nearly every state does this is to get out of a having to pay for schools with increased tax rates as are really needed to fund them. A recent study showed that every state that funds schools with lottery proceeds has actually, in real dollars, decreased school spending. As many are finding out as well, the lottery is about maxed out and has hit the point of saturation: basically, no matter how many of those 'I am a lottery rich dude' ads they run no more money is going to come in. In short, they have hit 'peak lottery' saturation.
The lottery has been sold to the public using kids and schools as an excuse pretty much since day one. The first lottery in New Hampshire started the trend, and it has been used in nearly every state since to justify a lottery, and to appease religious and anti-gambling elements in each. Some states, wisely, have used lottery money in the past to pay for expensive, one off type projects or to fund public works and the likes. The idea to use lottery funds for schools, however, has been their principle use nationwide.
I really think we're going to see a wave of school funding problems as peak lottery funds starts sinking in across the country. As the Senator in the article noted, he voted for the lottery and was surprised the funds weren't being used as sold to the assembly by lottery proponents. By proponents, we're talking about the major lottery contractors who, when a lottery is being proposed, come into town and provide state agencies with a basic gameplan to sell the lottery to voters and elected officials. They then have an inside track to getting that states lottery contract and business. Someone should look at the gross amount of money lottery contractors take off the top of lottery funds and start pointing fingers at them. For what they do, basically marketing, printing, distribution and actually conducting the games they are grossly overpaid. As the Senator is finding out, state lottery agencies have very little to do with day-to-day lottery operations: its all done by contractors, who, basically, run the state lottery agencies. They don't distribute funds, but, when issues like this pop up they will lead the war-room operations to beat anyone who tries to change how the lottery is run. This 'lottery protection force' is the ultimate nasty-trick to players, voters and elected officials. And, it shows us all who is really running our lotteries. But, since the lottery has been a cash-cow until recently, no one dared question how contractors actually ran it.
Hopefully, that will change soon. Maybe states will get rid of the contractors and run lotteries with state workers who are responsible to the people and elected officials. Maybe states will start to question why they're paying contractors so much money for the little they actually do. And maybe leaders will start to figure out that the whole lottery system needs major changes, from how they are run to how much the prizes are to how you are allowed to actually claim your prize if you are lucky enough to win. Maybe change how lottery wins are taxed and how, most importantly, how proceeds are allocated to schools and other state agencies. I still believe, that if the payout amount is raised, taxes on winnings changed to something in line with captial gains levels and winners nationwide have an actual choice on how they claim their prize then play will actually increase. As we have seen recently some winners have gone to great lenghts to avoid claiming prizes publicly. I don't think that has a positive effect on play levels: if you actually do win, then you get to become cannon fodder for the media and then get to find out how hard it is to live a normal life.
I am a Florida resident and I personally know a Bright Futures scholarship recipient. I disagree with anyone who believes that investing in the education of our children is wasteful. I can't think of a better place to spend money than a child's future.
I am an Iowa resident and I personally know several dozen educated people.Their degrees are only good to have as something to talk about while standing in the unemployment line.The only people that benefit from everyone going to college are the professers and other people who work for the Universitys.They get to keep their government paid jobs.Most high school students are NOT college material.What this country needs is more jobs in the manufacturing segment of society and less college educated idiots that can't tell their a$$ from a hole in the ground.We put entirely to much emphasis on education and not nearly enough on job creation.We can't all be rocket scientists,their is just not enough rocket science jobs to go around.We can't all be docters or lawyers or mental health experts or (pick a field) because their are not enough of those jobs to go around either.
I agree the money that goes to Fin Aid really does not go to the students, but to the colleges. Trust me I never received any of that aid. I feel that the money should always go through K-12 since they need it the most. I also think that Florida should put back the Florida state lotto back to 3 million since we had the powerball it doesn't get high any more. 2 million yeah its nice, but bring back the good old days when the jackpots use to be big.
Doing an internet search for "Does lottery money really go into education?" produces a lot of interesting hits.
Virginia is one example:
According to educators who have watched the lottery for years, much of the public believes the lottery money is extra funding, on top of what the state is required to give. They remember the lottery being pitched that way, as bonus funding, when Virginians voted on it 24 years ago.
Instead, educators say, the state is now using all of the lottery money - about $450 million a year - to meet its own obligations to the schools. None of it reaches local coffers as extra funding.
"They're using it instead of anteing up state aid in the general fund. That's been a slow and insidious movement that's been going on for a few years now," said Kitty Boitnott, president of the Virginia Education Association.
"It's a big ruse, and I don't believe Virginians, in general, are aware of it."
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/virginians-duped-about-lottery-funding-educators-say
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Personally I think the "Bux for education" ploy is more marketing than anything else, and while the intentions may be good all too often it just doesn't work out that way. Somes tudies have shown that lottery money goes into stated education systems only to be drawn out somewhere else in the system.
Going by what we see in Illinois if even a portion of the lottery money that's suppossed to be going to schools really was going to schools, we wouldn't see so many struggling schools, teacher layoffs, etc....
I agree 100%. We need to take the FOCUS off of college and ON TO 'what the student is best at' By focusing on the STUDENT rather than the IDEA of everyone goes to college we will reap the most benefit. Many students will still go to college, but MANY more will enter the work force being happy and productive with NO STUDENT LOANS to repay.
Use the money on K-12, get the failing schools back to at least passing - THEN re-look at using the money for other things.
I think this is a problem with the whole issue of funding via the lottery. Instead of being a straightforward issue about the funding itself, it becomes a victim of the education issue. That, of course, allows state's time and space to continue their practices of robbing lottery accounts earmarked for schools and using it payoff general revenues.
Schools don't fail, students do. More and more fail due to lack of supplies, etc. Someone mentioned teaching trades, well, schools used to do that. And it worked, especially in places where trades unions recruited grads from tech schools to serve apprenticships in various trades. Today, schools are broke, and cannot fund things like shop, drafting, etc. Plus, many jobs are now in states where there are no unions, and no established proceedures for training.
Using lottery funds for schools doesn't work when those funds are used in lieu of taxes. If you don't want to pay taxes then schools suffer. Lottery funds are better used for special projects the require funding on a short term basis. Using them for schools is irresponsible.
A well known political party has made political points since 1981 by telling Americans they don't have to support government or pay taxes. It's worked for them politically, but as a result the country is in shambles. Lottery funds are not going to save anything: they are temporary tricks to make people think they work. And we buy it. That's the problem.
Right now that well known political party is hard at work reducing government to paupers who have to beg for handouts. Soon enough, only the rich people will have any money, the rest of us will get what the leave. Which isn't much. What has happened to our schools will, very soon, happen to us.
And all because they are intent on making the rich even richer. Are we better off today because of lower taxes? I don't think so.
Finally, as a college grad I have to disagree with the folks who blast college as worthless. I went through college on the GI Bill, working and loans. College has helped in my job and career. Not all students can, or want to do that. And they need something to study for in high school. But, with so few jobs, and good paying ones, left you wonder what good technical training will do. Today, the jobs are in technical areas, IT, etc. Most trades are now non-union, and are done more and more my recent immigrants from central and South America who are not union, make less money and have no benefits. Perfect for business owners, who can use deportation to keep them in line. Low wage workers undercut people in other things, like manufactoring. That's the real problem, and, again, the major political party has worked hard to allow those low wage folks into the country and then working to break trades unions (for example, Indiana just became a Right To Work state, done by that major political party). Their goal is to break unions right to organize and, more importantly, overturning the Wagner Act which allowed workers to organize. The lottery is just part of their plan.