Schools Rely on Lottery for Pay, Texts, Trips

Shortly after the first tickets for the California lottery were sold in October, 1985, State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig exhorted educators to use their part of the proceeds for “visible, high-impact activities.”

Few school districts had the financial resources to follow Honig’s suggestion. Most have mixed lottery funds with other income and used it simply to keep schools running.

Lottery money “was supposed to be the frosting on the cake. Well, in too many cases it has become the cake and we’re still doing without the frosting,” said Karen Lough, president of the Las Virgenes Educators Assn., the union representing teachers in the Las Virgenes Unified School District.

Indeed, many school districts in the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas have been left with little choice but to funnel the lottery funds into bread-and-butter expenditures, reflecting what has become standard statewide. Other districts in the Valley area, however, have managed to set the money aside for more high-profile endeavors, such as adding classes, buying educational materials and reviving field trips.

Half of the state’s school districts are using some of the money for teachers’ salaries and bonuses, according to a 1987 report published by the Policy Analysis for California Education, an independent research group of education professors from top California universities.

School districts also are stashing lottery money away in their reserve funds to help balance their budgets, the study stated.

Books, Salaries

Once the teachers and the bottom lines have been satisfied, then school districts release money to individual campuses. There, it is spent on everything from textbooks, flash cards, tape recorders and photocopying machines to salaries for part-time librarians and office clerks.

“I happily play the Lotto myself because I see that the money is used and it buys things we normally wouldn’t have,” said Charles Welsh, principal of Olive Vista Junior High School in Sylmar.

As of May 25, California lottery games had recorded total sales of $4.9 billion. Elementary and secondary schools received $1.3 billion of that. Community colleges, the California State University and the University of California systems received $293 million.

Some school districts have put the money to creative uses. In the William S. Hart Union District, which serves the Santa Clarita Valley, officials have used about two-thirds of their annual $1 million share of lottery money to add a sixth period to the junior high schedule.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, which gets the largest share of the lottery money because it is the state’s largest school district, has used the funds to keep frills in its budget. The money now finances the citywide band and drill team competition, academic decathlon competition and the all-district marching band that performs in the Tournament of Roses Parade.

The district also used lottery money to hire substitute office clerks, replace old and broken typewriters and establish a computerized information service that keeps track of students’ records.

Additionally, the district gives each of its 618 schools about $20 a year for each student on the campus. The school’s principal, faculty, and parent groups decide how to spend the money.

Most districts, especially smaller ones, have had to use lottery funds for more routine personnel and budget matters. For example, the Burbank Unified School District has spent more than half of its of total $3 million lottery allocation since 1985 on employee salaries and benefits. During the 1985-86 school year, lottery money allowed the district to give its employees a one-time 3% bonus, officials said.

Simi Valley Unified School District used $2.5 million in lottery funds to balance its 1988 budget, according to spokeswoman Pamela Spencer. And the district plans to fold $3.2 million of its annual lottery allotment into its 1989 budget.

Even with additional cash flowing in, some administrators are not entirely happy because they say the lottery has led many people to believe the school funding problems have been solved.

“People perceive that schools are rolling in money because of the lottery’s millions and millions,” said Albert Marley, superintendent of Las Virgenes Unified School District. “But we also have millions and millions of students to educate.”

“It has not been a panacea,” added Don Zimring, the Las Virgenes district’s assistant superintendent of business.

A closer look at three selected districts in the Valley and surrounding areas--Hart, Las Virgenes and Los Angeles--provides insight into the various ways schools use the money and the results they have gotten.

William S. Hart Union High School District

Lottery money helped make junior high tougher in the William S. Hart Union High School District.

Each year since 1985, the Hart district has spent about $600,000 to support a sixth period at its three junior high schools. Before lottery funds became available, the junior highs operated for only five periods a day, a schedule that limited the district’s ability to offer students a wide range of electives and advanced courses.

The addition of the sixth period led to the stiffening of graduation requirements. Students must now take three semesters of science, instead of the single semester required previously. They also must take four semesters of history instead of the three required before.

The longer school day also allows students more opportunities to take culturally enriching courses such as art and music.

“We wanted the lottery money to go for the best use that benefited the most young people in the most significant manner,” said Clyde Smyth, superintendent of the Hart district, which operates four high schools, three junior highs and serves about 12,000 students.

“In our judgment, that is the best use of the lottery funds,” Smyth said.

The decision seems to be paying off.

Last month, Sierra Vista Junior High School in Canyon Country was one of 60 middle schools in the state awarded the California Distinguished Middle School Award. The award was based on improved test scores over a period of four years on the California Assessment Program examination, a standardized test of basic academic skills.

“We’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing, better,” said Sierra Vista Principal Michael Allmandinger.

“Every school is expected to improve year to year. We made more improvements than we were expected to do and we were honored,” he said.

Science was one of those areas where scores increased.

Jeff Phillips, head of the science department at Sierra Vista, said the lottery funds have helped strengthen and expand his department.

The deparment hired four new teachers, arranged more classroom space and bought thousands of dollars worth of science equipment, he said. Now, an improved science curriculum helps students prepare for high school and “gives them a broader experience, a lot more hands-on experience and lab work,” Phillips said.

Los Angeles Unified School District

Field trips are back for the students of Victory Boulevard Elementary School in North Hollywood.

In the late 1970s, post-Proposition 13 budget cuts eliminated field trips from the school’s curriculum. Lottery money put them back.

This year, the elementary school spent about one-third of the $16,000 it received in lottery funds for field trips, giving the school’s 1,200 pupils a chance to take two trips a year.

Most of the youngsters who attend Victory Boulevard Elementary are from impoverished or low-income families, said Principal Charles Webb. The field trips offer the children rare glimpses into other areas of Los Angeles.

The school decided to use lottery money on field trips “so these kids could see that the city is bigger than four square blocks,” Webb said. “Without the lottery funds we wouldn’t be able to give our children this opportunity.”

The field trips are particularly helpful in getting the youngsters to develop language skills and concepts they have learned in the classroom.

“If someone were to describe a zoo to you and you’ve never seen it, would you understand it?” asked Linda Haley, a teaching assistant. Trips to places like the zoo “make things real to them.”

Earlier this month, 45 students from the school were taken to the Pico Rivera Sports Arena for a Cinco de Mayo festival, where they visited exhibits on Latino culture and watched a rodeo.

Lottery-financed trips like this “lets them know there’s another world out there,” Haley said.

Las Virgenes Unified School District

Two years ago, when the Las Virgenes Educators Assn. negotiating team sat across the bargaining table from administrators of the western Los Angeles County district, the teachers had one thing in mind: get as much lottery money as possible.

“Our initial proposal was that teachers get a certain percentage of lottery funds,” Lough said. “We asked for 48% or 51% of the money.”

The district said no.

When the dust settled, the 330 teachers had a two-year contract with a novel provision. Salary increases were tied to a formula based on the average lottery money received by districts similar to Las Virgenes.

Las Virgenes teachers are not alone in getting lottery-funded salary increases. Teachers in neighboring Simi Valley got 30% of the district’s 1986 lottery allotment.

In Los Angeles, teachers’ raises were funded with 47% of the $134 million in lottery money the district received in 1986 and 1987.

The same is true in San Francisco, Long Beach, Burbank, and scores of other California school districts. When it comes to getting lottery money, teachers have been the big winners.

Early in the lottery game, the teachers’ organizations understood that lottery money would be dumped into general operating budgets of school districts with few restrictions on how to spend the money.

The cash became an easy target when salary negotiations came around.

Ed Foglia, president of the California Teachers Assn., said there was no statewide strategy to get lottery money to boost teacher salaries, but local leaders were savvy enough on their own to go after the cash infusion.

“Money is money,” Foglia said. “If you don’t push for something, you don’t get it.

Said Lough: “If you want to improve education, you have to start with improving teachers’ salaries.”