{"id":847,"date":"2021-08-12T01:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T01:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stand.org\/illinois\/?p=847"},"modified":"2022-07-09T01:18:12","modified_gmt":"2022-07-09T01:18:12","slug":"confused-about-whether-lottery-money-really-funds-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stand.org\/illinois\/our-stories\/confused-about-whether-lottery-money-really-funds-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Confused About Whether Lottery Money Really Funds Education?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Download this column as a PDF.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could figuratively say we \u201cwon the lottery\u201d when we got the COVID shot, an unprecedented marvel of science that took just a year to go from discovering a deadly new disease to testing and securing emergency authorization for a vaccine to guard against it. And here we are, living in the country with the most innovative scientists who miraculously developed these vaccines, which we are all privileged to have access to now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every Monday from July 12 \u2013 August 16, three vaccinated Illinoisans can also literally<\/em> say they won the lottery. If you were vaccinated in Illinois, you\u2019re automatically in the running for the prize. (And if you aren\u2019t <\/em>vaccinated, hurry! There are regional drawings today, August 12, with the last drawing coming on August 26, when two grand prize winners will win $1 million each.) Even vaccinated Illinois youth have a chance to win $150,000 scholarships throughout the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This got me thinking about an age-old question that comes up all the time: \u201cWasn\u2019t the lottery supposed to fund public education?\u201d The short answer: It does, but it\u2019s not nearly enough money.<\/strong> The Illinois Lottery generates about $700 million each year that goes to the Common School Fund. That $700 million is a lot of money but still only a drop in the bucket compared to how much is needed to fully fund public education. The Illinois State Board of Education\u2019s general funds budget is about $9 billion. And that doesn\u2019t even include the additional billions in early childhood expenses that are appropriated through other agencies, higher education costs, or teacher pensions. And of course, keep in mind that none of these things are fully funded at their current appropriation level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, of course, there\u2019s a longer answer, too. When the lottery was created in 1974, there was plenty of\u00a0debate<\/a>\u00a0on whether the proceeds should go to education, but in the end, they went to the General Revenue Fund and were allocated for\u00a0regional public transit<\/a>. That changed in 1985, when the legislature passed a bill re-directing lottery receipts to the Common School Fund. However, that did not directly lead to an increase in education funding. In the\u00a0words of the sponsor<\/a>\u00a0from floor debate (all emphasis added by me):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026we will not be adding one penny more necessarily<\/strong>, but it is just the intent of what we\u2026all thought originally might be done, that we will put all of the money in the Common School Fund. As the bill began its process through the legislature years ago, that\u2019s what the public was told and that\u2019s what we will do, but it will not increase the money per se<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s an opponent speaking up on floor debate:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026after you pass this bill and you come back here in a couple years, and you begin to get comments from those same constituents at the meeting who say to you, hey, you promised us lottery money, you passed it and we still didn\u2019t get it\u2026. It\u2019s a charade<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And another floor comment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to support this proposition because if nothing else the public will feel better<\/strong> that they know that these funds are supposedly going to education, but we in the legislature know better, that in fact there\u2019s going to be more bureaucracy<\/strong>, there\u2019s going to be more accounting practices and it\u2019s going to cost the State more than it takes in.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(I seriously could lose days just reading old floor transcripts\u2026 fascinating stuff!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was a lowly budget analyst on the Illinois Senate staff, one of the most basic things we learned when analyzing an appropriation is to note which type of funding it uses:<\/p>\n\n\n\n