wasn't there a commercial saying that 35 cents of every dollar in the lottery goes to school? Why would we need to lay off our teachers if this is correct? BS needs to be called on the lottery commision and demand accountability on where this money is going. We should not be laying off our teachers.

wasn't there a commercial saying that 35 cents of every dollar in the lottery goes to school? Why would we need to lay off our teachers if this is correct? BS needs to be called on the lottery commision and demand accountability on where this money is going. We should not be laying off our teachers.
I believe I've heard that most of it goes to higher education.

I believe I've heard that most of it goes to higher education.

The same higher education that's been raising tuition rates substantially for the last several years?

wasn't there a commercial saying that 35 cents of every dollar in the lottery goes to school? Why would we need to lay off our teachers if this is correct? BS needs to be called on the lottery commision and demand accountability on where this money is going. We should not be laying off our teachers.

I think you may be placing blame with the wrong entity.

this is from an article from back in 2006(OK Lottery Commission wants accounting of where public education | Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City) | Find Articles at BNET (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_20060920/ai_n16736558/))

"The Oklahoma Lottery exceeded its projections for its first year, providing more than $68 million for schools in the eight months since the first scratch-off lottery tickets were sold. But ask school officials where the money went and most would not be able to tell you, members of the Oklahoma Lottery Commission said Tuesday."

From looking at the OK Lottery Statutes, the lottery commission gets audited quarterly and has to maintain an internal audit system..

I would go to some school board meetings if you want to find out where the money is going.

wasn't there a commercial saying that 35 cents of every dollar in the lottery goes to school? Why would we need to lay off our teachers if this is correct? BS needs to be called on the lottery commision and demand accountability on where this money is going. We should not be laying off our teachers.

Why would BS need to be called on the lottery commission? The state does in fact get approximately 35 cents of every lottery dollar spent that goes to education. I dont exactly know how the state appropriates that 35 cents but the main thing is that they do recieve the 35 cents. Call BS on lawmakers, higher ed officials and the state superintendent, they are the ones that determine how its spent. How about consolidating school districts to lower secondary school costs.

And by the way, practically all goverment agencies are laying people off.

What you need to do is chide those jerks who aren't buying more lotto tickets! (I'm guilty)

When are you guys going to learn. Politicians lie. That is what they do. Do you think the lottery would have passed if they told the truth?

When are you guys going to learn. Politicians lie. That is what they do. Do you think the lottery would have passed if they told the truth?

Amen, Kerry. As sad as it is, you speak the truth. And on both sides of the aisle.

FWIW, the amount that goes to education does go to education. However, that does not necessarily mean that some other non-lottery funding source that used to go to education hasn't been reallocated to meet some other need within the state's responsibility.

Haven't studied it, won't swear that's the case, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if that is some portion of the educational funding woes.

FWIW, the amount that goes to education does go to education. However, that does not necessarily mean that some other non-lottery funding source that used to go to education hasn't been reallocated to meet some other need within the state's responsibility.

Haven't studied it, won't swear that's the case, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if that is some portion of the educational funding woes.
That is the case in all states, the general funding that went to education was moved to other things when the lottery money came into being. When "selling" the lottery they neglected to mention that the lottery money was not going to be in addition to the general funding.

FWIW, the amount that goes to education does go to education. However, that does not necessarily mean that some other non-lottery funding source that used to go to education hasn't been reallocated to meet some other need within the state's responsibility.

Haven't studied it, won't swear that's the case, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if that is some portion of the educational funding woes.

Kevin - this was the case when I lived in California. I was in high school when the lootery started out there and 35% was supposed to go to education. The State legislature, in a bid to spend more then they brought in, just cut school funding from the general fund by the amount the lootery brought in.

The kick in the pants was that since lootery funds aren't taxation it couldn't be spent on items that could generate future obligations to the schools districts. This meant they couldn't build new schools with it or hire teacher (or even pay them). The result was we got athletic equipment every year and college scholarships (the same funding for higher education Oklahomans were sold) - there still wasn't money to pay teachers or build schools.

BTW - I spell it lootery because they is what it is - looting. But at least it does get the poor to pay taxes.

How did our educational system ever survive before receiving all of this lottery money. It just goes to show you that we must keep a close eye on our politicians, they can be very sneeky when they want to be. I never recall so many teachers future in jeporady like they are now.

How did our educational system ever survive before receiving all of this lottery money. It just goes to show you that we must keep a close eye on our politicians, they can be very sneeky when they want to be. I never recall so many teachers future in jeporady like they are now.

If it were just teachers, I would agree, but it's every profession (police Officers, Firefighters, Janitors, City & State Workers, Bus Drivers, Amusement Park Workers, Zoo Workers, Retail Employees, Restaurant Workers, etc; etc;)

How did our educational system ever survive before receiving all of this lottery money. It just goes to show you that we must keep a close eye on our politicians, they can be very sneeky when they want to be. I never recall so many teachers future in jeporady like they are now.

It looks like the conservative Republicans will have to start getting the blame now then instead of the liberal democrats since they control the legislature.

To all of you that believed the "educational lottery" crap...

:LolLolLol:LolLolLol:LolLolLol:LolLolLol:LolLolLol

Ask anyone in any other state about their lotteries and the ties to the educational system and they would have told you straight up it doesn't do much good. Yes they get some money, but it is not nearly as much as people think or make as big of an impact as you told.

You voted for an additional form of legalized gambling...that's it.

To all of you that believed the "educational lottery" crap...

:LolLolLol:LolLolLol:LolLolLol:LolLolLol:LolLolLol

Ask anyone in any other state about their lotteries and the ties to the educational system and they would have told you straight up it doesn't do much good. Yes they get some money, but it is not nearly as much as people think or make as big of an impact as you told.

You voted for an additional form of legalized gambling...that's it.

I think most people who voted for it knew that and didn't really care. If education benefited as a sideline that's great. Do you think that anyone who loses money at the Riverwind Casino is concerned with where their money goes?

There is a lot of misunderstanding/misinformation here about the Lottery:

Oklahoma Lottery Commission - Beneficiary (http://www.lottery.ok.gov/beneficiary_vhtml.asp)

This hopefully will clear up a lot of it (but remember the percentages they give are not the total amount the Lottery brings in (some goes for administration, a large chunk goes to pay out prizes etc).

Sad fact is that it is just now bringing in the total amount that Gov Henry (then Senator) said the Lottery would be bringing in yearly ($500M or 1/2 Billion). It has rarely brought in the projected amounts. Read article after article of revised downward projections. Of course the Lottery Director or some spokesman would be quoted with something to the effect: "Sales are down right now due to (fill in the excuse), but things will turn around as soon as we launch (fill in name of new game/promotion)". Temporary bump in sales but then they would drop and they would have to downward revise again...and again...and again.

While I agree the lottery has not produced the revenue promised, nor has it been the saving grace of Oklahoma's Educational System, this lottery revenue was meant as a supplement to State and Federal funding, just imagine how bad things would be without this additional financial resource.

While I agree the lottery has not produced the revenue promised, nor has it been the saving grace of Oklahoma's Educational System, this lottery revenue was meant as a supplement to State and Federal funding, just imagine how bad things would be without this additional financial resource.

That is the thing rcjunkie - it isn't a supplement, it is a replacement of current funding and the creation of new programs. I don't have a specific example in Oklahoma but in California, Georgia, and Florida the states started NEW progams like scholarships to spend the money on. That is why states that have lottery scholarships have seen college tution costs go thru the roof. We have serious levels of inflation in college tuition and it is becasue lottery funds are driving up the price. That is great for kids that get lottery scholarships - crappy for everyone else.

That is the thing rcjunkie - it isn't a supplement, it is a replacement of current funding and the creation of new programs. I don't have a specific example in Oklahoma but in California, Georgia, and Florida the states started NEW progams like scholarships to spend the money on. That is why states that have lottery scholarships have seen college tution costs go thru the roof. We have serious levels of inflation in college tuition and it is becasue lottery funds are driving up the price. That is great for kids that get lottery scholarships - crappy for everyone else.

Why does the creation of a lottery scholarship drive up the cost of tuition? I am not following.

Why does the creation of a lottery scholarship drive up the cost of tuition? I am not following.

Come oooon, Penny. The same way health insurance drives up the cost of health care. Silly girl. :ohno:

Come oooon, Penny. The same way health insurance drives up the cost of health care. Silly girl. :ohno:

Oh blah, blah, blah, you old fool. :LolLolLol Seriously, I get the health insurance connection but not following on the tuition costs.

If I remember correctly, the money is passed through the education funding formula before it is distributed to public schools. I don't know the formula, but I understand it is extremely complicated. I believe this is the reason the lottery money is not really helping the current situation.

LOTTERY; Investment banking for the mathmaticly challenged.

FWIW, the amount that goes to education does go to education. However, that does not necessarily mean that some other non-lottery funding source that used to go to education hasn't been reallocated to meet some other need within the state's responsibility.

Haven't studied it, won't swear that's the case, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if that is some portion of the educational funding woes.

Supposedly the Lottery money is in a "lockbox" and the Legislature is prohibited by law from decreasing education funding from other sources. The State Board of Equalization (Governor is head along with other higher up state muckity-mucks) verifies this at the start of each Legislative session. In essence, education funding from other sources can never decrease from the previous year.

Now that brings us to if it is happening or not. It is true that the percentage of the budget pie has gotten smaller since the lottery started, the total dollar amount has increased every year. Slightly smaller slice of the pie, but it is a bigger pie. Even with the slightly smaller percentages, education still gets the largest share of the budget.

Some people look at the above and think funding has been cut, others, including the Board of Equalization, don't see it that way.

If I remember correctly, the money is passed through the education funding formula before it is distributed to public schools. I don't know the formula, but I understand it is extremely complicated. I believe this is the reason the lottery money is not really helping the current situation.

That is correct. Even though the Lottery is in a "lockbox", the legislature found out a way to pick the lock in a sense. Instead of being purely supplemental funding, and the schools getting a check quarterly after the revenue has come in, and evenly dividing the money on a per/student basis, the Legislature decided to funnel it through the funding formula. This was one of the reforms of the now 20 year old HB 1017. The practice of school parity where poorer school districts get more state aid than the wealthier ones. So, some schools don't get a dime from the Lottery (theory is, they don't need it).

There are some problems with funneling it through the formula. The Legislature was impatient and couldn't wait until after the revenue came in to distribute it. They decided to take the projected revenue (it has rarely if ever reached projections) and distribute it that way. When revenues didn't make projections, what was supposed to be purely supplemental funding had already been budgeted and spent by the schools. Resulting in a shortfall of funds and Ms. Garrett has had to go back to the Legislature every year requesting supplemental funding to make up for the shortfall.

Then there is the issue of how the funds are being spent. Teacher raises were promised but the Legislature didn't fund them directly. They took Lottery monies to fund the raises (still going for education so no diversion of funds). Money that was supposed to be at the discretion of the various school districts, was now mostly spent before they ever saw it.

Recent Lottery commercials and their website are a bit misleading, saying that Lottery money could be used for buses, text books etc. It could be but the vast majority has gone to teacher raises instead of directly in the classroom.

wasn't there a commercial saying that 35 cents of every dollar in the lottery goes to school? ...

The commercial is correct on that part but you have to remember that out of that 35 cents,
45% goes to common ed (15 cents) mostly to fund teacher raises,
45% goes to higher ed (15 cents),
5% goes to the teacher retirement fund (1.75 cents)
5% goes to school consolidation fund (1.75 cents)