Pa jd 4
THE CLACKAMAS PRINT
February 5,1992
Student takes action
Education better use for lottery funds
To the Editor,
The State of Oregon is at this
time suffering from the deteriora
tion of its school systems. The
time has come for the voters of this
state to make some tough deci
sions on how we as a state shall
continue to fund education. A peti
tion is about ready to be circulated
to the voters to put an amendment
to the constitution of the State of
Oregon on the November 1992
ballot of the state’s general elec
tion. The subjects of this amend
ment are on how the state should
best utilize state lottery funds. At
this time, the state legislature is
required to spend lottery funds on
economic development At this
time, there are not'rules or guide
lines established to indicate what
economic development is. The
state legislature determines what
economic development is without
any guidelines to follow, which in
the view of the author of this amend
ment does not benefit'the general
population. Lottery funds would
best serve the residents of Oregon
if the state lottery funds are spent
on developing a strong educational
base for the three state educational
systems: general educational (K-
12), the community college system
and the state’s higher education
system.
The state cannot expect to
remain economically strong and
competitive in the world market
when we are not training our resi
dents to compete on an equal edu
cational level as those with whom
we are competing. At the begin
ning of the 1991-92 school year,
Chemeketa Community College had
a 23 percent increase in full time
enrollment while the college gen
eral budget increased by only 4.7
percent. Many students were un
able to enroll in the classes they
needed because of overcrowding.
Oregon is losing thousands of jobs
in the timber industry each year. If
we no longer have the ability to
take these productive Oregonians
in and retrain them to once again
be a continuing asset to our state,
they shall become a burden this
state cannot afford to support. Our
best chance for economic stability
is to invest in our future, investing
in the education of the people that
shall carry this state to economic
stability.
The voters should be aware
that supporting this amendment to
the state constitution will not by
any means solve our educational
funding problems, but it will take
funds that the state already receives
and make the best use of those
funds to benefit the most Oregoni
ans. Lottery funds will only make
up a small portion of the funds that
are required to operate our school
systems, but it is a right step to
wards true economic development
Linn Hilderbrand
President, Associated Students of
Chemeketa Community College
Salem, Oregon
ASG backs proposed state amendment
By Jennifer Lessard
News Editor
CCC’s Associated Student
Government (ASG) voted to sup
port a proposed Amendment to the
Constitution of the State of Oregon
calling for a 100 percent of alloca
tions of lottery funds going towards
education in the state, in their
meeting on Jan. 23.
According to Lauri Mayfield,
ASG President, not all members
were in support of the amendment,
but the majority agreed to support
it Mayfield explains that even if
the amendment does not pass the
Oregon vote in November, “just
getting it on the ballot will increase
awareness. It is a step in the right
direction.” She explains that the
amendment Dortravs the effort of
college students to take part in
solving governmental problems and
making a difference in their’s and
many other’s future.
According to Linn Hilderbrand,
President of the Associated Stu
dents of Chemeketa Community
College and the author of a pro
posed amendment to the State
Constitution regarding the utiliza
tion of lottery funds, the main ob
jective of the amendment is to “use
lottery funds in a more efficient
manner.”
Hilderbrand has purposed that
5 percent of the lottery funds to go
toward the general education(K-
12) system, 35 percent to go to
ward the community college sys
tem, and the remaining 15 percent
to go toward the state higher edu
cation system.
The Legislature approved lot
tery allocations for 1989-91 in the
sum of $131 million. According to
those figures publi shed by the state
in last year’s budget, 14.5 million
dollars out of theapproximate $131
million went toward the three divi
sions of education. The Workforce
2000 was dealt 6.7 million to work
with, while the Department of Higher
Education was dealt 1.8 milion and
the general fund for the Depart
ment of Education received anoroxi-
mately 6.0 milion. In all, 11.07
percent of the lottery funds in the
state last year were earmarked for
education. The remaining funds
went toward helping fund the De
partment of Correction s, economic
development, regional strategies,
special public works, the strategic
reserve fund, tourism, small busi
ness development and other state
agencies.
Hilderbrand explained that “this
isn’t good enough,” schools are
lacking adequate funding and Ore
gonians are suffering because of
this.
Accordi ng to H i lderbrand, he
“wanted to make a difference.”
Hilderbrand believes that us
ing the lottery funds in a different
way “will benefit the state.” Hilder
brand compiled information, vis
ited the state building on several
occasions and drew up a proposed
amendment to the state constitution
of the State of Oregon. He submit
ted the proposal to the Secretary
of State’s office to ensure his
amendment was legally and for
mally correct. He also passed the
petition through the Attorney
General’s office.
According to Hilderbrand, the
lottery money has created, under
the title of Economic Develop
ment, a $100 million “slush fund
for the Government.”
Hilderbrand quoted an esti
mated $200 milion will be raised
through the state lottery this year.
Hilderbrand will be speaking
before a congregation of the state
college presidents on Feb. 13 re
garding his proposed amendment
He is also scheduling lectures
throughout the state educating Ore
gonians about the amendment and
the current allocations of lottery
funds.
Legislative Approved Lottery allocationsfor 1989-91
($131 million)
Proposed utilization of Oregon lottery funds
Proposed Amendment to the
Constitution of the State of Oregon
All Oregon State lottery funds shall be utilized to support the
Oregon educational system. Fifty percent of funds shall be
utilized by the general education (K-12) system, thirty-five
percent of funds shall be utilized by the community college
system, and fifteen percent of funds shall be utilized by the state
higher education system.
All lottery funds shall be utilized strictly for the expansion of
facilities, new construction, renovation of existing facilities, the
purchase of new equipment, and fortargeted job training, exclud
ing facilities and equipment utilized exclusively for inter-school
or intercollegiate athletics of any of the school systems.
The Oregon State Lottery Departme nt shall set up an ac count
as of January 1st, 1993, in which the state lottery funds shall be
deposited throughout the year. The State Lottery Department
shall distribute the aforementioned funds to the three separate
Oregon education systems on December 31st of each year. The
administrators of each of the three state educational systems shall
be responsible of the proper distribution of their lottery funds.
The Oregon State Legislature shall not take into considera
tion the use of state lottery funds when determining the state edu
cational system’s yearly operational budgets. State lottery reve
nues vary from year to year and cannot be considered a constant
source of income.
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