Leverage state lottery profits to fund the Straight A Fund, which provides schools with startup grants to develop and implement creative and transformative instructional models to inspire learning and student growth. State lottery profits also fund a pilot expansion of the Educational Choice Scholarship Program.
Never mind when Kasich told people about the plan last week, he assured everyone that the money for vouchers and the fund were not taking any revenue from school districts.
The Ohio Constitution has called for lottery profits "into a fund of the state treasury that shall consist solely of such proceeds and shall be used solely for the support of elementary, secondary, vocational, and special education programs as determined in appropriations made by the General Assembly."
Is it constitutional to earmark the lottery money for private education? It's too early to say, but we'll see. I'm extremely concerned, though, that the Kasich Administration says taking a chunk of the Lottery money -- the second-largest education fund source -- and giving it directly to other programs is not taking money away from schools. It clearly is not.
