People ought to vote for the lottery for education for the following reasons:
The law requires that lottery proceeds will be spent only on the new education programs outlined below. OCGA Section 50-27-2 says that "net proceeds shall be used to supplement, not supplant, existing resources for educational purposes and programs."
The lottery will directly help families who are struggling with the high cost of tuition. The HOPE program (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) will provide each B or better student with two years of free tuition to state colleges if his or her family's income is below $66,000. Vo-tech school tuition will be free regardless of grade-point average.
The lottery will improve the classrooms in which our kids work. It will pay for computers and science equipment in schools that otherwise could not afford them.
The lottery will set up a voluntary, statewide pre-kindergarten program that will ensure that children entering kindergarten are prepared to learn.
The state lottery should be established. Without it, hundreds of millions of dollars that could improve the education of Georgia's children will continue to go to states like Florida that do have lotteries.
Passing the lottery won't solve all Georgia's education problems. It will help families pay for college tuition, get their kids ready to start school and make sure they have modern classrooms and equipment.
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