Other Articles in this Category
Most Viewed Stories
Most Commented Stories
Gambling on education
Lenoir Co. Schools has received nearly $3 million in lottery revenues
The North Carolina Education Lottery was established to help Tar Heel schools. Since its inception in 2006, Lenoir County Schools has received $2.9 million in revenues from it.
“For us, the lottery funds are very important to help pay for the school bonds,” Lenoir County Schools Finance Director Lisa Davis said. “We have used $2.7 million in lottery revenues to pay for our school construction bonds.”
On June 29, the school districts’ lottery fund balance was $352,000. Davis said the school district usually receives between $250,000 and $300,000 in lottery funds per fiscal quarter.
Through the first three fiscal quarters of 2009, Lenoir County Schools received $866,982 from state lottery proceeds.
Davis also said the school district received $184,273 in interest on the $2.9 million lottery funds. The N.C. Education Lottery began on March 30, 2006.
“We are thrilled that we exceeded expectations for the year and that we could help provide new revenue to the state especially with the continuing budget crisis,” N.C. Education Lottery Executive Director Tom Shaheen said. “The ongoing goal for the N.C. Education Lottery is to maximize sales and raise as much money as we possibly can for North Carolina.”
On July 1, the state education lottery transferred $25.3 million to the Office of State Budget and Management for sales in June. For the fiscal year, $410.8 million was transferred to the state from lottery proceeds.
Through June 29, the N.C. Education Lottery achieved $3.4 billion in total gross sales.
Fifty percent of state lottery proceeds are split between pre-kindergarten programs for at-risk students’ needs and class size reduction efforts; 40 percent is allocated to school construction and 10 percent is allocated for college scholarships.
Davis said state lottery proceeds transferred to Lenoir County Schools cannot be used to fund the school district employees’ salaries.
The state’s $4.7 billion deficit forced Gov. Bev Perdue to withhold lottery payouts to counties statewide in March. Lenoir County Manager Mike Jarman said the state decided not to distribute $267,139 in lottery proceeds to Lenoir County in March.
“We heard in April the state might decide to hold lottery proceeds again from the counties,” Jarman. “They haven’t withheld any more lottery funds since March.”
For specific information on where lottery funds have been used so far, visit www.nceducationlottery.org.
Chris Lavender can be reached at (252) 559-1078 or clavender@freedomenc.com.
