Doesn’t the Ohio lottery fund our schools?

On a routine stop at a neighborhood convenience store, you might hear: “Can I get a couple of lottery tickets?” It’s a small purchase for the hope of instant wealth while being beneficial to the Ohio education system. Anyone concerned about school funding in Ohio, the bigger question isn’t who wins the jackpot, but wasn’t the lottery supposed to fund education?

Since Ohio voters approved the state lottery in the 1970s, Ohio’s constitution requires all net profits from the Ohio Lottery go into the state’s Lottery Profits Education Fund and be used solely for the support of elementary, secondary, vocational and special education programs.

The dollars involved are significant. Transfers from lottery profits to the education fund have climbed: $1.13 billion in 2020, $1.41 billion in 2022, $1.46 billion in 2023, $1.51 billion in 2024 and $1.45 billion in 2025. The current state budget estimates $1.47 billion in each of the next two fiscal years. Since 1974, $32 billion has been provided for Ohio education.

The real story isn’t the size of the number but how the figure fits into how the state funds their portion of education.

This column first published in the Dayton Daily News, where Rob Scott is a weekly opinion contributor. See the rest of it here.