Education: The Big Gamble

From the JUL/AUG 2006 issue of The ParentGuide.

Since 1987, Florida residents have been doing their part to support education through quick picks and scratch-offs. In theory, it’s an inspired idea: a potential windfall on one side of the equation and a guaranteed community bonus on the other. What lawmakers and taxpayers didn’t count on, however, was the unavoidable complication at the heart of the wager.

According to Mary O. Borg and Harriet A. Stranahan, economics professors at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida’s general education funding decreased dramatically with the inception of the lottery program. Their findings indicate that in 1988, prior to the lottery, 60 percent of general revenues were allocated to education. In 1996, that number had dropped to 53 percent. More recently, Borg and Stranahan’s theory seems to hold true as evidenced by Governor Bush’s 2006-07 budget recommendations, released this past February, which call for approximately 34 percent of state revenue to be spent on education.

So what, exactly, does this decrease have to do with state-supported gambling? The problem is called supplantation, and, in this case, it arises when lottery funds are used in place of money originally earmarked for the educational budget. As a result, rather than a significant surplus, instructional spending is merely maintained or slightly increased, which results in fewer opportunities for educational improvement.

According to the National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC), “While the Florida Legislature expressed clear intent that the lottery not supplant existing resources for public education, the legislative language was not specific as to how supplantation would be judged.” This means that governing bodies at all levels have been left to allocate as they see fit. Unfortunately, without concrete guidelines, lottery revenues have little chance of fulfilling their proposed potential. And, as a state ranked 45th in per pupil expenditures for 2004-05, Florida simply can’t afford to divert those funds in too many directions.

To make matters worse, the current distribution practice with regard to lottery money only adds to taxpayer frustration. “Since most lottery funds go directly into a school district’s general operating budget, they are relatively invisible to the public, who wonder where their ‘education lottery’ money went,” says the NCCIC. Labeled by many, including Professors Borg and Stranahan, as a regressive tax, state lotteries have often been called into question for exploiting the poor by taking a larger percentage of revenue from low-income citizens. All in all, a less than stellar image for a promising idea.

Where does the blame lie? Rather than pointing the finger at Florida’s revenue management, it’s possible the system goes awry before it even reaches state control. Commenting on the proposed federal budget for 2007, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida) asserts that the state’s children are receiving less than their share. She says, “Over the past five years, Republicans have under-funded the No Child Left Behind Act by $55 billion nationwide.” She adds that, under the President’s budget, “children in Florida will go without promised help in reading and math” and the Head Start program, vital to more than 35,000 Florida children, will be “under-funded once again, freezing it at this year’s level.” With budget cuts handed down from above, and no specific guidance about the application of lottery funds, it’s really no wonder the overall impact is tough to define.

Looking at 2006-07 state budget recommendations, however, there are hopeful indicators. An additional $420 million in the education column, earmarked for a performance pay plan for teachers, is one such bright spot. Known as E-Comp, this plan will reward teachers for students’ academic achievements with annual bonuses. “Extraordinary teachers that are helping students exceed expectations—and in many cases helping struggling students succeed—deserve special recognition and compensation for their tremendous efforts,” says Russell Schweiss, spokesman for Governor Bush.

Other positive recommendations include a proposed $26.4 million program to offset college tuition increases and the $52 million Access and Diversity Initiative described by the Florida Board of Governors as a “set of initiatives designed to improve higher education access and success for students from previously underserved populations.” Clearly, efforts are being made on behalf of Florida’s students. Can those efforts be credited exclusively to lottery revenue? No. Are the increases as much as the public was led to believe? That seems an impossible call, given the vagaries in the allocation procedure. As taxpayers, if we want to do more than wonder about where that Lotto money goes, the plan of action is clear: Let state and local representatives know which issues are most crucial—which items must NOT get lost in the supplantation shuffle—and then pay close attention to how well they listen. There’s just no bigger gamble than inadequate education.

Sources:
www.murraystate.edu/qacd/cbpa/bber/articles/borg.pdf
www.ebudget.state.fl.us
www.nccic.org
www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/FactSheetOnNeedForIncreaseInFlorida.htm
Florida Office of the Governor
Office of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schulz