Editorial: Lottery ticket hike not best plan for schools

Give Georgia Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox partial credit for at least suggesting a look at a new revenue stream as the state's public school systems continue to feel the tightening pinch of an ongoing budget shortfall.

Last week, as state officials were digesting the bad news that tax receipts were down for the month of February as compared to the same month a year ago - marking the 15th consecutive monthly revenue decline - Cox was proposing a 50-cent surcharge on lottery tickets as a means of raising revenue for the state's 182 public school systems. The superintendent reckoned that a surcharge could bring in as much as $350 million annually - an average of almost $200,000 for each of the state's school systems.

That's certainly a revenue stream worth pursuing. One problem with the superintendent's proposal, though, may be found in the fact that lottery proceeds currently are limited to funding the HOPE college scholarship program and the state's pre-kindergarten program, with any remaining revenues going to K-12 construction projects. It's true that a 50-cent surcharge could steer more money into those delineated purposes, freeing up other state revenue for other education-related spending, but any attempt to change the specific allocation of lottery proceeds could prove legally problematic.

On a larger point, the superintendent's proposal for additional state revenue for the public schools is - nothwithstanding the state's reliance on an outdated funding formula that has local school districts picking up most of the tab for public education - depressingly redolent of the supposition that more money equals better quality in education.

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