State lottery would help fund schools

Vernon F. Pechous, Henderson

Wednesday, July 2, 2008 | 2:02 a.m.

I’m old enough to remember George Carlin uttering the “seven banned words.” I’m trying to get a seven-letter word that’s apparently verboten in print. That word is “lottery.”

In Florida a lottery was created in January 1988 by a constitutional amendment approved by a 2-1 margin in the general election of 1986. The point of the lottery is to give extra funding to state education, and it was mandated that a significant portion of all revenue go to the Education Enhancement Trust Fund. The Bright Future Scholarship program is funded by the lottery (read Millennium Scholarship?).

It took 17 days of sales for the lottery commission to repay with interest the $15.5 million bond from the state’s general fund that got it going.

I believe that if the teachers association were really concerned with the level of education, it would pick up the challenge that this presents. Florida’s fund could serve as an example, covering a multitude of things, such as school construction, books, new teachers to reduce class sizes, scholarships and student financial aid; nothing is said about raises for anyone, but the state would have extra money to address this.

The gaming industry should also be behind this, as it may loosen the talk of raising the gaming tax and of raising the room tax. I realize this would take some revenue from its bottom line, but it would be a good gesture to make. After all, I and lots of other people not only visit the casinos but also travel to Arizona or California to purchase lottery tickets.

Since 1988, the Florida Lottery has generated $17 billion in revenue for the Education Enhancement Trust Fund. A percentage of the gross revenue goes to prizes, as well expenses associated with running the lottery, but there’s a lot left over.