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to keep lottery
$$$ for schools
Revenues from the North Carolina Education Lottery are on target to hit projected annual net revenues of $400 million.
How much of the money will in fact go toward education remains to be seen. As the short session of the General Assembly starts next week, discussions have already begun about shoring up legislation to ensure that money raised by lottery profits is used strictly for education.
We think efforts to enact “non-supplant” legislation are needed, especially in the first year of the lottery when many people are skeptical that money from the lottery will be allocated solely for education.
Many states that have enacted “education” lotteries talked a good game in the early stages about keeping all proceeds for education, but time and time again, the money was used to help balance the general budget.
We still think the lottery is a poor way to raise money, but that’s water under the bridge. The More at Four Program for pre-K students, reducing class sizes and allocating money for school construction is vital.
Let’s not let happen in North Carolina what’s happened in other states. It appears that legislation is needed to cement lottery proceeds for education. We encourage the local legislative delegation to get behind any bill or bills to do so.