County could acquire additional lottery funds

Warren County could be eligible for close to $1 million in excess lottery funds to use for K-12 capital outlay projects if bills pass through the General Assembly this legislative session.

The county’s Education Committee held a meeting recently, attended by Director of Schools Dr. Jerry Hale and director of instruction Bobby Cox, to discuss the bills and vote on a resolution to urge the General Assembly to enact the legislation. A sample resolution has been drafted by the Tennessee Association of County Mayors, which supports the bills.

If the resolution is passed by the Warren County Commission, it would show support for a matching grant of $161 per pupil in our school system for capital improvements.

With 6,101 students in the Warren County School System, the Tennessee Association of County Mayors says the county could receive around $988,270.

But there are some restrictions. According to article XI Section 5 of the Tennessee State Constitution, this money can only be used for capital outlay projects for K-12 educational facilities, or early learning and after-school programs.

‘We have an opportunity here to have some state funds come back our way,’ said Education Committee chairman Bryan Denton, noting the money is a result of excess lottery funds, which have always been earmarked for education.

‘There are three potential uses for those funds,’ Denton said. ‘Higher education scholarships, which is currently going on, after-school programs, and primarily pre-K classrooms, which were the biggest need originally. But these bills actually say K-12 capital outlay projects.

‘So there’s a bill in the legislature now that would create what is called K-12 lottery capital outlay account,’ Denton continued. ‘This would come from reserve funds in the lottery that are in excess of $250 million. The latest assessment is about $425 million there. This would not be a recurring thing, it’s possible it could, but it just depends on how the lottery does. The money would be distributed on a per pupil basis. With the figures that I’ve got it means close to a million bucks for Warren County.

While lottery money has always been earmarked for education, the lottery was created to provide college scholarships. Some representatives, such as state Rep. Charles Curtiss, believe if extra lottery money is available, it should go to capital building projects on college campuses. Those projects are also very much in need.

Dr. Hale said he is familiar with both the Senate and House bill and supports them, even with the matching funds requirement, noting that most projects would require enough local funds to cover the match.

‘There are around eight bills like this down there right now,’ Hale said. ‘But this looked like the best one. There appears to be no downside to this.’

But Hale did note another restriction.

‘This is for new construction,’ Hale said. ‘Not for improvements on existing buildings.’

But since the county is needing to expand classroom space anyway, Hale said this should be no problem and could provide significant funds to aid in local expansion for the school system.

‘And the way I understand it, it can be put into a reserve fund until you’re ready to use it,’ Hale said.

The Education Committee voted unanimously to approve the resolution which will be presented to the full commission at its next meeting.