Frosting and funding for public schools: Idaho Lottery turns 35

Idaho Lottery says every play benefits Idaho’s schools, students, and property tax payers.

• July 19, Idaho Lottery celebrated 35 years!
• New legislation will continue to provide funding for public school buildings.
• Learn more about Where the Money Goes.

(Broadcast Transcript)
“The lottery has provided millions of dollars in the last several, the last many years,” said Gideon Tolman, the Chief Financial Officer of Idaho Dept. of Education.

Another thing to celebrate, Friday, Idaho Lottery turned 35. Fun events at the Village consisted of games, live music, and plenty of birthday cake.

5 contestants from across the state tried their luck… digging through frosting… to find a prize in a ‘cake-stack.’

Nampa local Evan Crawford found the $10,000 reward in his pile of pastry.

“What are you planning to do with the money?” asked Meridian Neighborhood Reporter Allie Triepke.

“I am probably going to pay off some bills if I'm being honest,” said Evan Crawford, with his new-found luck, “and [buy] a few more lottery tickets of course.”

So how does the Idaho Lottery benefit students and taxpayers? We asked the state’s Dept. of Education.

“So school’s in the past, up to this point, have used it for kind of their routine maintenance, paying their maintenance team salaries, and doing their repairs on their buildings and a lot of their summer projects that they do between school years. That’s a big portion of what is spending has gone to as far,” said Tolman.

West Ada School District tells me the money has been a “significant help” for the district to maintain buildings.

Starting this year, new legislation, House Bill 521 , combines state money, in part with lottery funding, to fund more public school districts.

“In this legislative package that included that piece where the lottery funding is going to be redirected, there was some additional funding from state sales tax revenues that will go to additional facilities support for schools,” said Tolman.

And good news for taxpayers, as the federal and lottery funding allows districts like West Ada to “hold off” on putting bonds on the ballot.