Students lose in this shell game

It's misleading and almost fraudulent to say Florida public education benefits from new gambling taxes and existing lottery proceeds.

By TALBOT "SANDY" D'ALEMBERTE, Special to the Times
Published January 11, 2008

Last month's announcement of the agreement between the state of Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida touts yet another important advancement for education funding through expanded gambling. It reported that the state is to receive $50-million as soon as the federal government approves the compact, with guaranteed payments of $100-million a year and then payments of between 10 and 25 percent of revenue thereafter.

As WTSP in Tampa Bay reported, Gov. Charlie Crist said the state will reap billions of dollars in new tax revenue for education because of the deal. "This historic agreement comes after 16 years of negotiations between the state of Florida and the Seminole Nation," Crist said at a news conference with Mitchell Cypress, chairman of the tribe.

I do not criticize the decision to reach a settlement with the Seminoles, although this is itself controversial. I do criticize the continued use of education to justify the state's decision to authorize gambling based on the premise that the money will go to education.

Given the record of the Florida Legislature in the handling of gambling revenues, it is misleading to claim that money is going from gambling into education.

This claim has been made before - recently, by the proponents of South Florida slot machines. The provision allowing county option for slot machines in Dade and Broward counties states: "The Legislature may tax slot machine revenues, and any such taxes must supplement public education funding statewide."

Does this mean that education funding has benefited from having slot machines in South Florida? Absolutely not. The revenue that comes from slot machines is used to fund education and the Legislature then displaces general revenue money devoted to education. There is no net gain for education.

The number of misleading, almost fraudulent, statements about education funding in the Seminole compact and the slot machine provision are trifles when compared with the continued false statements about the Florida Lottery. When the state lottery went into the Constitution, it had a provision that appeared to send the money to education, stating that the proceeds would go to the "State Education Lotteries Trust Fund, to be appropriated by the Legislature." The catch is that the Legislature has used lottery funding to displace general revenue funding and there has been no benefit to education. You will get a different impression if you read the Web site of the Florida Lottery that makes very impressive and misleading claims:

"The Florida Lottery's mission is to maximize revenues for the enhancement of public education in Florida. With this focus, the Florida Lottery has not only kept its promise as a committed partner in education, but has also operated as a distinguished and outstanding business enterprise.

"In fiscal year 2006-2007, the Florida Lottery transferred $1.26-billion to the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund. For the fifth time in the Florida Lottery's 19-year history the agency surpassed the billion-dollar mark in a single year, thereby pushing The Lottery's total contribution since startup to more than $17-billion. Although that size contribution is only a small part of the state's overall education budget, the impact of the Florida Lottery on public education flows from community to community."

The lottery also claims that it has funded the Bright Future Scholarship program, and it is undoubtedly true that lottery funding allowed this misconceived program to get started. The way Bright Futures has been implemented, it is a scholarship program designed to provide large amounts of support to those students who need it least, channeling scholarship money to those from relatively privileged backgrounds, leaving only 20 percent of scholarship support for need-based programs. In practice, it does not limit its benefits to top students and, because the state provides scholarship money for all tuition increases, it has proven to be a roadblock to improving higher educational funding. Bright Futures may be the most ill-conceived state education policy of the last several decades.

The claim that gambling revenue funds education is nothing more than a shell game, and though the odds are not with gamblers in Florida, they are getting a better payoff than the supposed beneficiaries - Florida students. Gamblers occasionally win, but the legislative handling of gambling money assures that education does not benefit at all.

The Tax and Budget Reform Commission may be in a position to redeem the promise of better educational funding and to erase the myth that Florida has achieved better funding for education through legalized gambling.

Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte is a member of the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, former president of Florida State University and a former member of the Florida House of Representatives.

[Last modified January 10, 2008, 20:47:09]