Off The Cuff

Arkansas Lottery: More

Posted by: From Arkansas in Are You Kidding Me?, Commentary on Jul 24 2008

Welcome back!

Honestly, I do know that this can be a hot button issue especially in the Bible belt of the country. But this needs to be mentioned here too. Arkansas is only one of 8 states that do not have the lottery. At the same time, Arkansas is way, way, WAAAAAY down on the list of educational skills in the country. In fact, if I recall correctly, it is down in the bottom 40s out of 50 states concerning education here in the United States. How sad.

As a commenter on my last post pointed out, Arkansas usually has a surplus of funds each year. True. But our lawmakers do not see fit to boost the educational funding to a high enough level that our elementary, middle and junior high, high schools benefit enough to change the status our state has acquired. We are in the pits due to bad funding, lousy teachers or teachers who have given up due to bad administrators. Isn’t it sad that the teachers have to clean their own rooms when it should be a janitor’s job but because of funding, there is no full time janitor? Oh please.

Speaking of bad administrators, we have had experiences with just one such bad administrator. The teachers of this particular middle school have a problem with the principal because he chooses to stick with the idea that kids don’t need to be told a deadline for their homework or classwork. Because of that, kids are often weeks late getting their work in (if they ever do). The teachers are not allowed to insist on it or they are too worried about their jobs to go against such stupidity.

I find that this particular principal tends to have somewhat bad judgment in a number of things that we have heard about over the years. Some were things we knew about personally. Some second hand. I will not say more than this but a bad administrator can change the whole way a school is doing with the scores most important to the success of the child. Frankly, I do believe that the child’s education has been lost in the shuffle of state and federal funding. The kids are losing because of the battle for the bucks.

So, maybe a lottery isn’t going to change the whole school system but it will help in ways we can only imagine right now. I can’t help thinking that the one person’s argument about the poor spending their money foolishly on tickets has no concept of poor. Poor people are not stupid, not all of them. Some rich people can be incredibly stupid, given that they might not have earned it themselves but are sure willing to spend it the way they want to. The best argument is this: My dollar is mine to do with as I please. No other, non-family member has the right to tell me how to spend my dollar. And definitely not some person who is simply opposed to a lottery. Give me a break here.

So, if we have all this surplus funding where is it going? I have no idea. Do you?

As for the lottery, since the other states have this going and only one border state that does not, aren’t we giving away our money to those other states by having our citizens buy their tickets in other states? Aren’t we funding education in Missouri, Texas, Tennessee and Oklahoma? Take note of the hue and cry that Missouri and Oklahoma are giving out because our state is choosing to put that on the ballot. They are already counting their losses. HELLO!!! Does anyone notice that they are counting MILLIONS???? Those millions would belong to Arkansas and to the education program.

What I am sad about is that the lottery money would only fund teacher bonuses and college scholarships. How many Arkansas kids are going to have the ability to go out of state to the hottest colleges in the country with our educational system? But we will be able to fund scholarships to the less than great local colleges. HELLO!!!! That’s why we need more, more, MORE FUNDING for education here.

On a personal note, I have nieces that have no concept of things I learned in grade school, as in from kindergarten to sixth grade. They are going into 8th and 9th grade this year. No history, no geography. Very little was taught in our schools. Know why? Our schools take time out of class to teach HOW TO TAKE THE BENCHMARK TESTS!!!! That’s why. This school system, and I have found that it is NOT unique, are trying to show better scores for FEDERAL FUNDING.

HELLO!!!!! Does no one hear this??? Are you kidding me?? This is ridiculous. And the trashing of the educational system is country-wide just in case someone wants to argue this point. It is not just in Arkansas. Actually, that screams that ours is just one of the worst case scenarios in a whole herd of bad scenarios.

And all this outcry because we want to have a lottery and some people do not see why. Just remember this. Those same people who buy tickets in those other states will continue to do so, poor or not. We will still be funding other states’ education system, not ours. You cannot legislate people’s lives to be different just because of one thing or another. People have freedom to choose. The surplus will be used for what the politicians choose for it to go to. If you contact your district representative, perhaps your voice can be heard.

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