Lottery news from http://www.kinston.com/
RALEIGH — North Carolina’s charter schools are hoping to get a little peace of the lottery pie.
Chances are, however, that they’ll have to wait until next year to convince legislators to change the law on how lottery proceeds are spent.
“We don’t know that it will get a hearing in the short session,” said Rep. Alice Underhill, D-Craven, a cosponsor of a bill allowing the state’s charter schools to get some of the lottery money allocated for school construction. “No one seems to be particularly interested in tampering with the lottery funding until the lottery is more mature.”
The lottery legislation calls for 40 percent of the net proceeds on school construction. Half the proceeds would go toward reducing class sizes and programs for children at risk of failure. The remaining 10 percent would go for need-based college scholarships.
Currently, state and local per-pupil operating funds go to charter schools based on the number of children going to the school. However, no capital dollars are earmarked for charter schools. They have to pay for rent or for their buildings out of the operating budget or out of other funds that they are able to raise.
Charter schools are public schools that operate with fewer restrictions than traditional public schools. There are 100 charter schools across placeStateNorth Carolina. That is the limit on the number of charter schools set by state law.
Underhill said that providing capital funds for charter schools is a matter of fairness.
She said that people interested in charter schools have talked to her about the issue. “They say, we’d like to buy lottery tickets and know that we’re helping the charter school community as well as the other schools,” she said.
The proposed change in allocation could run into support from county commissioners, who are charged with coming up with the funding to build public schools.
“It would be very difficult for counties to be willing to give up any of those lottery proceeds,” said Todd McGee, a spokesman for the N.C. Association of County Commissioners.
McGee said that the N.C. Department of Public Instruction has identified nearly $10 billion in needs for capital expenses in schools statewide. He said that the $160 million a year anticipated for school construction from lottery proceeds would certainly help.
“That is really a drop in the bucket when you look at the overall need in the state,” McGee said.
Cecil Banks, a lobbyist for the N.C. Association of Educators, said that his organization opposes the bill.
“It’s too early in the process of divvying out the lottery proceeds,” Banks said. “Right now, we are satisfied with the way the lottery bill is written.”
Underhill, who sponsored the bill along with Reps. Jean Preston, R-Carteret, Laura Wiley, R-Guilford, and W.A. “Winkie” Wilkins, D-Person, said that she will try to get an interim committee to study the issue after the short session is over.
“It’s time to address whether they have lottery proceeds and to discuss how you would distribute that,” Underhill said. |
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