Details about this story

• Source: Gannett News Service
• Date: February 04, 2007
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: Dwight R. Worley
• Topics: Education
• Data Types: State Data
• Description/Excerpt: While most people think of the state's gaming system as a fun way to spend a few dollars, the games serve as a major lifeline for hundreds of school districts in upstate New York, pumping millions of dollars a year into the economically depressed areas. It's common knowledge that lottery money is used to help fund education throughout the state and other forms of state aid provide the bulk of funding in these districts, but the extent to which some districts rely on lottery funds is striking. Last school year, more than 300 school districts received 10 percent or more of their funding from the lottery, according to a computer-assisted analysis of 2004-05 lottery distributions and school spending figures. Seventeen of the most needy, located primarily in the northern and western portions of the state, get more than 15 percent of their funding from the lottery.