Lottery hasn’t paid out for education
Thursday, March 27th, 2008
By Staff
By Elaine Mejia : Guest columnist
The Herald-Sun
Mar 27, 2008
March 30 will mark the two-year anniversary of the first day of ticket sales for the North Carolina Education Lottery.
Controversy and disappointment have plagued the lottery since before the first ticket was ever scratched. Even today, one of former speaker Jim Black's appointments to the board that oversees the games is in prison for failing to disclose important information about his ties with a company that was bidding on a contract to run the lottery.
Scandals aside, the lottery has also been a disappointment simply because it hasn't been the jackpot for schools that many had hoped it would be. In part, this is due to lackluster sales, but it's also because in order to shepherd the lottery through the General Assembly, its promoters promised more than a lottery could ever deliver.
The state expects North Carolinians to buy around $1 billion worth of tickets this year. If that target is reached, the lottery should net the state around $350 million. Of that amount, half will go to will go to pay for class-size reductions in early grades and high-quality preschool for low-income children — both of which were largely in place before the lottery began. Another 40 percent is distributed to counties to pay for school construction. The remaining 10 percent is to be spent on higher education scholarships for low-income students. (more…)
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