Some Lawmakers Want Change in Lottery Distribution Formula

Durham, N.C. — The state's lottery money distribution formula could soon change.

Forty percent of lottery profits are now set aside for school districts to help them with construction. Under House Bill 9 sponsored by Rep. Bruce Goforth, a school district's financial needs and attendance growth would be factored into the decision process.

Under the current system, 65 percent of lottery proceeds for schools is based on the size of the student body while 35 percent is distributed to districts based on residents who pay high property taxes.

According to the bill, 65 percent of lottery proceeds for schools would still be based on student body size, but the remaining 35 percent would be split in half with 17.5 percent going to low-wealth school systems and 17.5 percent going to school systems with high enrollment.

For example, Wake County, which currently gets $8 million in lottery proceeds, could get an additional $5.4 million under the proposed bill.

Some critics argue the calculation punishes fiscally sound county governments.

23 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

VIEW ALL 23 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments.

Latest Comments

Teachers can't be paid from lottery funds, and there are no "excess" funds as someone mentioned because the lottery proceeds are built into the budget. For the record I'm pro lottery, but this is why lottery opponents are right when they say the influx of money doesn't really help education and causes more problems then good. The budget makers already accounted for the proceeds of the lottery before the first ticket was sold.

tlh1005
July 11, 2007 6:32 p.m.

HMMM 35 percent goes to districts based on residents who pay high property taxes. Just waiting for all the districts who have lower property taxes to realize this and raise their property tax to get a bigger piece of the pie.

wstarhawks
July 11, 2007 6:06 p.m.

Since the anti-lottery people couldn't stop the lottery they put a bunch of restrictions on it in the hopes that it would fail. They love to whine about it every chance they get.

Karmageddon
July 11, 2007 6:02 p.m.

sounds like missing money to me what is going on here ??? what is the deal the money coming up short..

agentm
July 11, 2007 5:05 p.m.

All of you conservative minded folks have been whining about the lottery since it began. North Carolina is far behind the other states because of you people.

dryhumper
July 11, 2007 4:47 p.m.