Several weeks ago, FOX 23 did a story - trying to find out where the education lottery money is really going. That was after we got complaints from teachers and principals, who said they had seen any lottery money at their schools.
Here are some of the comments we got on the FOX 23 website:
"I wonder how many voters actually believed the lottery money would be used for its intended purpose...status quo for oklahoma's elected officials."
"Is anyone surprised? When has the money ever gone for what it was supposed to?"
Another viewer simply asked, "Where is the money?"
A viewer also emailed this to FOX23's Janna Clark.
"They need to provide answers and details for us... this seriously chaps my hide that no one can vouch for the spending."
FOX 23's Janna Clark got some answers for viewers.
Anderson Elementary Principal Brenda Anderson hasn't seen a penny of lottery money.
"No, no I haven't seen an increase in any of my budgets," Anderson said. "It would be nice to know where that money is going."
For K-12 education, the lottery commission doles out an average of $46 million a year.
According to the Office of State Finance, when it receives the lottery money,
it's held, until lawmakers decide how much money to give schools for the year.
But here's the problem. The state gives the Department of Education all of its funding - including the lottery money - in a lump sum.
Since the lottery, schools have been receiving more money each year.
But at the same time, they're getting a smaller piece of the pie -
37% of the state's funding before the lottery and 35% today.
That begs the question - is the lottery money really extra money for education? Or, does it only give legislators the excuse to spend money they would normally spend on education on something else?
The lottery commission calls it supplanting. A lottery commission representative sent us this quote:
"Supplanting?... To some, it means getting the smaller piece of the pie.
To others, it means reducing money from one source and replacing it with money from another.
Good luck on figuring that one out."
State School Superintendent Sandy Garrett wants to change the law, so that the lottery funding will come in separately. She said in a statement:
"We believe the best and fairest way to distribute lottery funding to schools should be based on actual lottery collections, divided by enrollment at each school district."
Garrett says schools ought to decide how to spend the money, and Principal Anderson agrees.
"I would love to purchase new chairs and desks for every child," Anderson said.
Teachers and principals say when the lottery was proposed, they were under the impression that it was going to "save" education financially.
But just to give you some perspective - for K-12 education, the state's education budget was about $2.5 billion dollars last year.
The lottery money was about 49 million dollars. It may sound like a lot of money. But it's only two percent of the total budget.
State Superintendent Sandy Garrett has asked to change the law to make sure lottery funding comes in as extra funding, but it's up to lawmakers to actually propose the law.
