Lottery on Verge of Failing – YAY!
The prospects (this year) of North Carolina getting a lottery are walking a thin line. According to this article in the News and Observer, it would only take one vote switch to have the lottery pass. Let’s hope that such a switch doesn’t occur.
“Although the Democratic leadership supports a lottery, five Democratic senators are staked out in opposition. That has left party leaders scrambling to persuade one of the five — or one Republican — to support a lottery. In the case of a tie, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, a lottery supporter, would cast the tie-breaker.”
Outside of the basic wrongness of a government-sponsored lottery, my own reasons for opposing this are very simple. ALL proceeds from a lottery should go into the General Fund. Lottery supporters are using the same old tactics for the lottery this time around. They’re earmarking the funds for “education.” 50% of the proceeds would go toward the vague goal of reducing class sizes and pre-kindergarten learning (which has shown in studies to be no benefit, and usually a detriment in early grades). 40% would go toward school construction, which is a variation on reducing class sizes, but at least makes sense. 10% would go toward college scholarships.
Of course, once lottery proceeds start to flow, legislatures invariably begin to see areas where normal funding of schools can be reduced, as it is now being made up elsewhere. Earmarking reduces the need of the legislature to handle the budget wisely. By depositing the funds in the general fund, the legislature would have to answer to the general public for its actions. Earmarking takes away responsibility, and accountability. The latter, I think, has more to do with why they want to earmark the funds.
On top of it all, I’m not a big fan of public schools. I’m not alone. In a discussion with some public school teachers earlier this week, we agreed that the highest proportion of anti-public-education people in the state can probably be found at the head of the classes. My kid’s in one of those exclusive private schools (and it isn’t because I’m rich). Why would I want to waste my money on failure?
A lottery in North Carolina?
NO! NO! NO!
It almost makes me want to run for the legislature…
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