35 cents of every lottery dollar?

[Larry OKC]

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.

[Larry OKC]

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)