Alabama's budget problems are once again triggering heated debate over the possibility of establishing a state-run lottery.
The state of Alabama is one of only six states that has not established a government-operated lottery system. During last month’s budget crisis in Montgomery, several legislators opposed new tax increases without offering long-term plans to fix Alabama’s reccurring budgeting problem – plans that have often included a lottery and casino gambling.
Forty-four states currently manage lottery systems, a form of gambling which provides funding for state services without raising taxes. In 2010, the United States Census Bureau reported that states sold $53 billion in lottery tickets. From the sales, $3 billion went to administrative costs and $33 billion went to prize money, but the remaining $18 billion was used by states to fund services – typically education.
That same year, Florida appropriated more than $1.2 billion in lottery proceeds, and Georgia appropriated $885 million. In both of these neighboring states, lottery proceeds are used to fund public education, school construction and higher education. Florida appropriated $219 million to public universities in 2008-09 solely from lottery proceeds.
Tracy Moore, an Auburn freshman from Georgia studying journalism, said she supports the Georgia lottery because it funds the Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally (HOPE) Scholarship – a statewide scholarship program that provides assistance to students who demonstrate academic success.
The scholarship program often pays for the majority of a student’s tuition at public universities in Georgia, if he or she achieves a 3.0 GPA during high school and meets performance criteria once he or she is in college.
“I think it sends a lot more kids to college than would be able to go to without it,” Moore said.
Moore added that the HOPE Scholarship affected her friend's college choice.
“I was very fortunate, I got a large scholarship from Auburn," Moore said. "However, I have a friend back home who got into an Ivy League school, but decided to go to UGA [because of the HOPE scholarship]. She didn’t think she had enough money in her college fund to even consider an out-of-state or private school.”
The Georgia Lottery supports over 1.6 million HOPE Scholarship recipients, funds the state’s voluntary Pre-K program and provides grants to train teachers in the use of technology in the class.
"I think the state lottery is a fun and effective way to raise money for scholarships," said Ellie Klarl, a freshman studying business administration at Georgia Technical Institute.
Klarl received a full-tuition Zell Miller Scholarship, another scholarship funded by the Georgia Lottery.
"Having the Zell Miller [scholarship] made it possible for me to attend such a prestigious institute. My family is adamant about me not taking out student loans, so the Zell Miller is necessary. Without the Zell Miller, there would be no way for me to go to Georgia Tech without taking out student loans and risking student debt," Klarl said.
Supporters of an Alabama education lottery estimate that in the first year, the state could collect close to $330 million in proceeds that could be used to support the public school system, community colleges, universities and scholarship programs.
State lottery systems often provide revenue to fund education, according to William Franko, assistant professor of political science. However, Franko said the lottery isn’t the sole remedy for a broken education system.
“The basic conclusion is that while state lotteries do provide additional government revenue, overall levels of education funding do not really improve,” Franko said. “Instead, states with lotteries simply replace existing funding with the revenue from lotteries and shift the additional funding elsewhere. In my view, the larger problem in Alabama is that existing levels of education spending are too low.”
State lawmakers last week transferred $80 million from the Alabama Education Trust Fund to balance a shortfall in the state’s general fund.
Alabama ranks 37th in per-capita education spending and has cut that budget by 12 percent since 2008, despite modest surpluses in the ETF.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
