Rep. Leslie Osborn and Senator Kim David are spearheading an effort to reform the state’s education lottery to help funnel more money into public schools. House Bill 1837 won approval Monday in the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, which Osborn chairs. David is the chairwoman for the Senate A&B Committee.
The changes made by HB 1837 could lead to an additional $110 million in education coffers over the next five years.
“Education gets more than $100 million in new lottery money if this legislation passes. This is by no means an end-all, be-all school funding solution, but it is an achievable way to get more money to schools even in a tough budget year,” said Osborn.
The lottery’s performance has been declining over the past few years. Because of a restriction in current law, the state lottery cannot offer bigger prizes like those in neighboring states. The legislation would guarantee at least $50 million in lottery revenue for education every year, send profits above $50 million to specific K-12 public school initiatives, and improve sales and revenue to education by ending the mandate that 35 percent of profits go to education.
“Like the lottery or not, we can all agree that since we have one, we should make it work the best it possibly can for our schools,” said David. “There is a lot more to do on education funding this session and long term, but this is one improvement that can be made now for our schools.”
Other states have made similar reforms to their education lotteries and have seen positive growth in the revenues which go to education.
