Funds generated by sale of lottery tickets NH
 

My question is relevant to the lakes region, as well as the entire state, and I am asking you brilliant forum members if you have the answer. Background for this: last night we were in a discussion about the lottery, and someone in our party claimed that Georgia uses its funds from lottery sales to guarantee that anyone qualified for entrance into college can have his/her tuition paid in full to any state or community college, just as long as they are GA residents. This sounds too good to be true, but it begs the question: how are lottery- generated funds used for education in NH?

From the NH-Lottery ..... www.nhlottery.com/Where-the-Money-Goes ..... I say the best way to win at the lottery is NOT to waste your money on it ..... by NOT playing the lottery you become an automatic winner! .... :patriot:

is just like NOT smoking cigarettes .... which makes you healthy ...... not paying/playing the lottery makes you a lottery winner. .... :eek2:

Lottery funds
 

Way back when the NH lottery was started, I seem to remember that this discussion was in the news, and I think the answer always included "education", after all, who is against "education". However, I also think this answer came from 'the government', and we all know this raises questions about the "whole story". Enough said.

I'm with campguy and FLL. They can say all the money goes to education--but what does that really mean? Money is fungible--it easily moves from one pot into the other. So unless they started a whole new program, and showed annually that the program's budget matched the profits, I don't really believe it. It's really just a tax imposed on the people who play it. Leading to FLL's point...best way to play the lottery is to sit it out...

It could also be a smoke screen for where the tax money really goes.

They can put all the lottery "profits" into education and reduce the education dollar amount generated by taxes by the same amount. They can claim all the money went to education, and it did. Then they can spend what remains in the state budget on anything they please.

Buying a lottery ticket thinking you are helping education doesn't make a lot of sense. Buying a lottery ticket thinking you will win make slightly less sense.

The odds are: 1:302,575,350

My question had nothing to do with the merits of buying lottery tickets, but rather, how is the money spent that’s allocated for education? I guess we’ll probably never know.

The proceeds from it are added to the required amount that the State Legislature is required to expend for educational adequacy grants to the various districts, and any monies expended toward the State University system.

2021 was a record... I don't know the final sum (didn't bother to look at TransparentNH for the answer)... but the media outlets were reporting around $130 million.

So that money is added to other monies in unrestricted funds - like business taxes - and used to cover the costs.

I believe if I were to check, just the city of Laconia spends roughly $43M on education... so we have a fair share of educational costs picked up by local property taxes... as local voters decide what the local school budgets would be, and thus must pick up the cost of their decision.

We can lower our local educational costs by cutting to only the State requirements... but choose not to.

Only unrestricted funds can move from one pot to another.
Lottery funds are restricted... so they are first dollar to education.
Should the State have to expend less than what is generated through the lottery toward education - then there would be an issue to watch to make sure the lottery revenue matched the education expenditure.

We are not even close... so no real concern.

My understanding is that lottery proceeds go into the "Education Trust Fund" which is then allocated to school districts based on various criteria such as population with "free and reduced lunch". The Claremont decision basically dealt with local school districts (now k-12), not the state university system.
USNH gets funding from the legislature, but of course, it is never enough. At the same time, more and more high schools are integrating curriculum with local community colleges and adding "advance placement" classes so that high school students can earn college credits or get waivers on prerequisites.
I know nothing about Georgia, but I know the statement that "It's free. The government pays for it" probably applies and "you get what you pay for." Education week (https://www.edweek.org/policy-politi...kaAqlYEALw_wcB)
ranked NH as a B+, and Georgia as a C. Most states were C and I see none with an A.

FWIW, Other funding: As an alum of a private college, I get $$ requests routinely and about 50% of fellow alums make some level of contribution. Some years ago I looked at similar figures for UNH. They had 42 employees in the development department and the alum contribution/participation rate was 8-10%.

It all goes to the ETF because we currently expend multiples of what the lottery nets.

If by some miracle the lottery net was greater than the demands of the ETF, the university system, or even private grants would be the other outlet as the constitutional restriction is only that it must go towards education.

I think that most think that the Lottery Commission commands every dollar of revenue toward the ETF (Education) without realizing that most of the revenue goes to pay the prize money. So while revenues may be in the billions, net is in the millions.

While the State does discount resident tuition... I think this is not the best idea.
I think we would be better off paying off a percentage of tuition each year that a graduate uses their extra education to advance NH.

If I pay off all of your tuition, and you move to another state, I get nothing on my investment in you.

It is like training an employee and watching them leave to another employer. The other employer didn't have the training costs... so they should in theory be able to pay more, as they have no investment to recoup.

In-state tuition is a major factor for any sponsor regardless of what state you reside.

What I’ve personally experienced, is that those attending and completing their programs at NH state colleges and universities minimally maintain roots in the New England region, supporting the regional economy. I’m fine with that given a regional population that is trending lower.

My format would increase that.
But further increase the number looking to work in NH...
Giving business another reason to expand in NH.

I’m honestly uncertain regarding your perspective. Are you running for public office?

No.
The military academies provide tuition based on service to be rendered after graduation... it seems like a reasonable plan.

The State could then determine if it was worth extending to resident and non-resident alike.

N’uff said