Countywide : Lottery Revenue for Schools Falls Again

State lottery revenues distributed to Ventura County schools fell to $2.4 million in the first quarter of 1992, continuing a slide that has seen lottery income fall by half in less than a year, lottery officials said Tuesday.

“The general public believes the lottery generates huge amounts of income for the schools,” said Ken Prosser, the business manager for county schools. “But in reality, even though the lottery income is nice, it hasn’t been the turning point for schools that some imagined.”

The size of the schools’ subsidy from the state lottery has been in a steady decline for the past year, with the latest quarter down nearly 15% from the preceding three months, Prosser said.

The latest quarter’s lottery revenue translates to $17 per student, he said. But that is less than half of the $41 per student that the lottery provided in the quarter ending June 30, 1991, he said.

Lottery income has ranged from 2% to 4% of the revenues used by local school districts, he said.

State lottery revenues from January through March brought $321,972 to the Ventura County Community College District, the highest in the county. At the other end of the scale, the Somis School District received $5,759, the smallest amount, Prosser said.

Other county school districts received the following amounts: Ventura Unified School District, $293,737; Oxnard Union High School District, $223,682; Oxnard School District, $212,215; Pleasant Valley Elementary School District, $113,537; Hueneme Elementary School District, $128,414; Rio Elementary School District, $45,443; Ocean View Elementary School District, $41,785; and Mesa Union Elementary School District, $6,307.