March 14, 1990

Florida Lottery Not Holy Grail

Sad Lament: “The lottery has ended up being just another source of funding for state government.”

So says Betty Castor, Florida Education Commissioner, endorsing a report by the state Chamber of Commerce that the lottery merely supplants revenues formerly spent on schools.

“Lottery funds are instead being used to make up gaps in the general revenue budget,” according to the Chamber study. “As a result, per-pupil spending is declining across the board.”

Tom Wagoner, deputy school superintendent for Charlotte County, agrees. He points out that the lottery has funded only one new program here - a pre-school class for 4-year-olds. “The lottery has not done what (proponents) supposed it would.”

Educators throughout Southwest Florida support the Chamber findings.

State Senator Bob Johnson, R-Sarasota, acknowledges the accuracy of the report. He says legislators had to divert lottery funds to ongoing school programs because of growth in school enrollment.

The Chamber contends that general revenues going toward education have failed to keep up with state growth.

In the five years preceding the lottery in 1986, 3.5 percent of general state revenues went to education. Last year, school funding - including the lottery - amounted to only 2.4 percent of state revenues.

State spending on education in 1989 actually decreased 7.21 percent, the Chamber report states.

The conclusion of the study is that a constitutional amendment may be needed to earmark lottery proceeds for education programs not already in place.

Tom Granger, the Chamber’s vice-president of human resources, asserts a tax increase is necessary to meet general purposes and thus enable lottery money to be spent exclusively for improved education.

Opponents of the lottery back in 1985-86 have no sympathy for Castor or educators. It was pointed out repeatedly that promises by other state lotteries of additional education funding never materialized.

Whenever a new glob of money becomes available, legislators grab it. They have a constituency that encompasses a myriad of needs - of which schools are but one.

Schools, legislators and taxpayers have got to stop searching for the Holy Grail of Painless Payment. It doesn’t exist.

Government cannot provide all the nice things we can think of. In the real world, we must provide most everything for ourselves - or do without.

Education is high on our priority list, but is superseded by roads, bridges, law enforcement, facilities and other infrastructure. Health, environment, welfare, and public services compete strenuously for state money.

School boards must look to local property taxes for the major part of their financing. This frustrates educators because of the pressures by neighbors and friends to keep property taxes low. State money isolates school administrators from criticism and second-guessing.

Local funding and control of schools tends to produce a hodge-podge of education programs. Quality varies with the financial standing of counties. Education throughout the state is not uniform.

This is unfortunate, but that’s how it will be so long as school funding is tied to property taxes.

As for the lottery, educators would do well to disassociate themselves entirely from the lottery. It is a slush fund and an unreliable source of operating revenue.

About the best the schools can expect is exclusive call on funds from a dependable tax source - all of which goes to operate schools. Educators then must stretch whatever money is produced for programs - ongoing and innovative.

Taxpayers will pay the bill, one way or another, but schools would get a monopoly secure from legislative tampering.

By Lindsey Wilger Williams, retired newspaper publisher and syndicated columnist