Lottery Not a Cure-All, Seymour Says : Idea That Schools Are Getting Rich Is a Myth, He Asserts

California’s lottery is dangerous to education because the public is being misled into the belief that it solves the financial problems of schools, state Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) warned a Fountain Valley parents’ group Friday.

“We have to dispel the myth that the lottery is the end-all for education,” Seymour said. He sees signs that the public mistakenly believes that the millions going from the lottery to public education will solve schools’ money needs.

“The truth is, the lottery only brings in 1 1/2% to 2% of the amount of money we spend on education in California,” Seymour said.

Seymour, a member of the Senate Education Committee and chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus, spoke to the Fountain Valley Blue Ribbon Network. The group, consisting of about 100 parents from the Fountain Valley School District, was formed last fall to promote beneficial education legislation.

More state money for education is one of the group’s goals, and Seymour said he supports that goal. But he told the parents that the lottery is confusing the public regarding the money it brings to education.

“You see, you have something working against the cause (of public support for education financing),” Seymour said. “It’s called the lottery. People have the viewpoint--since 34% of the lottery’s money goes to education--that education has got all the money that it needs.”

Overhead Conversation

As an example, Seymour told of a recent incident in Orange County.

“I was in a shopping market; we were standing in a checkout line,” he said. “There was a lady in front of us, and she paid for her groceries and bought a lottery ticket. She said to the cashier: ‘They’re making so much money off this lottery that they really ought to do something else with this money rather than give it to education. Education is getting all that money! We ought to be giving some of it to senior citizens or for parks . . . in addition to education.’

“Then the cashier responded: ‘Yes, you’re absolutely right . . . . All this money is going into education.’ ”

Seymour said he was disturbed by the incident. He said that the $500 million that the lottery brought to public schools in its first year is a nice addition. But he said it’s a very small part of what’s needed annually by the state’s schools.

“Sure, $500 million is a lot of money,” he said. “But we’re talking about a statewide budget that’s over $13 billion . . . . If we don’t dispel the myth (about the lottery being a major source of education money), then the public is going to reflect and say that some other issue is more important.”

Push for Reforms

In other comments during his talk, Seymour said that the Legislature will continue to push for “much needed additional reforms in education,” including “in the area of teachers.”

He added: “You are going to see some major debate (in the Legislature), and you’re going to see some legislation coming this year in this area of teacher quality . . . . You’re not going to get a higher quality teacher unless you pay for it . . . .”

“I wouldn’t be opposed to a good teacher who works 12 months of the year being paid up to $60,000 a year,” he said.

But Seymour said that in improving teacher quality, some changes in tenure regulations are needed. Tenure regulations make it difficult to fire teachers, and he noted that teacher unions “consider tenure holy” and would resist any proposed change. Seymour, however, did not elaborate on what changes in tenure he thinks are desirable.