Richmond, Va. (WRIC) — Since 1988, the Virginia Lottery has funneled millions of dollars into education. Profits from the games go straight to schools.
Central Virginia gets a lot of money from the lottery. Last year, Richmond got more than $850,000. Chesterfield received $16.2 million. Henrico scored $17.1 million.
“Whether your ticket wins or loses, it does benefit education in Virginia,” says John Hagerty, a Virginia Lottery spokesperson.
Every time you scratch a ticket or pick your numbers for the big jackpot, the lottery maintains you are creating winners in education all over the Commonwealth.
But here’s the thing: That money isn’t necessarily the windfall it appears.
“The way the lottery was originally sold was hey, ok maybe it’s not a great thing, but we’re going to use the money for education,” explains Republican Delegate Jimmy Massie. “So a not so good thing is the money’s going to be put to a good purpose. Ao that was the way the lottery was originally sold.”
More than 25-years later, that money is now supporting Virginia’s bottom line.
Educators say many people think playing the lottery provides more money for education, but that’s not the case.
“We’re seeing the lottery money so to speak, not be icing on the cake, but we’re seeing it become the cake itself,” insists Meg Gruber, President of the Virginia Education Association.
Lottery proceeds don’t pay for every day education. Instead, the money funds specific initiatives like the school breakfast program, special education, and early reading intervention.
According to Gruber, “the General Assembly can decrease what they gave to public schools before from the general fund because now they can use the lottery money as part of the base of what they fund public schools.”
“Whether you call it money or extra money there would still be a half billion dollar hole in the state’s education budget without lottery funds,” maintains Hagerty.
Right now, lottery profits make up about nine percent of Virginia’s $6.1 billion education budget. While some like to say education funding by the Commonwealth has risen, the amount it spends per student has dropped. Virginia ranks 41st in state per pupil funding.
“When you look at the real spending, when you adjust for inflation, adjust for population, the spending’s been flat to down a little bit and we’re down about 5000 positions across the state,” adds Delegate Massie.
However, he maintains that education is Virginia’s largest single line item in the budget.
According to Massie, “The kids are our future. I mean I’ve got four children and we are going to invest and continue to invest in K12 and higher education.”
Educators say more money would make a big difference.
“We could put programs back in place, electives back in place, smaller class sizes so our students get the one on one attention that they deserve,” says Gruber.
Governor McAauliffe is expected to release his budget in December, and he insists education spending will be a big part of it. 8News has learned that K12 could get an additional $500 million over two years time.
Of course, lawmakers will have to agree to it.
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