(Orangeburg) Nov. 12, 2003 - Desmond Roberts was in art class at Bowman Middle School. He also painted a picture of his dream, "To be a lawyer or a librarian."

He has to acheive the goal in a school that's below average in state testing and was dealt a 20% cut in their operating budget last year.

Wasn't the education lottery supposed to help? It was introduced in 2001 and since then has grossed more than $1.2 billion. Parent Deshandra Busby wants to know, "I would like to know what the children will receive in the future, as well as now to help them in their education."

Fifty-eight percent of lottery money pays for prizes. Seven percent goes to the stores that sell the tickets, 6% goes to administration of the lottery and, finally, 29% of the education lottery goes to education.

Many people don't realize that 62% of those education dollars goes to college scholarships, while 34% goes to K through 12 schools like Desmond's.

It may be a small slice of the pie, but it still amounted to almost $80 million for K through 12 from fiscal year 2002-2003. Although the lottery actually began in January of 2002 (FY 2001-02), the actual distribution of funds for educational initiatives did not begin until fiscal year 2002-03.

The money breaks down to $20 million for school buses, while the rest goes to special programs in reading, math and science and teacher specialists.

Orangeburg 5 District Superintendent Melvin Smoak says those teacher specialists made a big difference at Bowman, helping teachers plan out the curriculum. He also says some basic needs weren't being met by the state budget, "We did cut back on staff. 22 1/2 positions we cut last year."

The lottery wasn't supposed to remedy that, but last year, the legislature allowed districts to take "essential operating costs from any state source." Smoak says those sources included lottery dollars, "With those dollars, we were able to maintain some staff members we would have had to let go - instructional staff members."

It's supposed to be a one-time deal and Smoak knows it can't be a permanent solution. The question is should it be?

State law says lottery proceeds must be used to supplement, not replace, existing resources.

By Megan Hughes
Posted 7:29pm by BrettWitt