Where are they? Lottery proceeds distribution much quieter than its debut

The North Carolina Education Lottery started off with a bang — lots of hoopla and scores of promises from the legislators who backed the plan, which was touted as a way to provide extra education funding to the state’s schools.

And while there is still news coming out about jackpots, sales and new games, the talk about how much money schools will get and where it will be used has died to a dull roar.

In the meantime, North Carolina school officials are trying to figure out what to do about mounting facilities bills and what to make of the suggestion that a multi-million dollar statewide bond referendum might be an option.

“A statewide bond referendum?” you might ask. “What happened to the lottery money that was supposed to assist the state’s schools with this concern?”

If you are asking that question, you are among many taxpayers who aren’t sure either and would like to know before they decide if they are going to support a local or state bond referendum for their schools.

Perhaps the money announcements have just not been as exciting as the initial startup. Perhaps state officials ought to think about a publicity campaign to get the information out to the people again.

Or maybe we just need to set our sights a little lower when it comes to lottery funds.

No matter what the answer is, without more information about what to expect, the school facilities issue is stopped before it has even started.

Published in Editorials on March 12, 2007 11:05 AM