Andy Anderson D.G. "Andy" Anderson, a Democratic candidate for governor, says a state-sponsored lottery would put an extra $30 million to $40 million a year into Hawaii's public school classrooms.
backs state lottery
The gubernatorial hopeful
says it could bring $40 million
a year to public schoolsBy Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.comAnderson is the first candidate for governor to endorse a lottery. He was careful to say that the proceeds would go to school classrooms and not the state Department of Education bureaucracy.
The lottery proposal, in the form of a constitutional amendment, would be presented to voters for ratification. If elected governor, Anderson said he would ask the Legislature to approve a series of constitutional amendments to be put before voters.
The former state legislator and businessman said he is not calling for a lottery because he favors gambling, but because the state is "nearly bankrupt" and needs the money for public education.
"I don't want to be governor of a state that ignores its kids," Anderson said in a meeting yesterday with Star-Bulletin editors.
"I can read a budget and a balance sheet, and I tell you this state is really broke, and I am tired of reading about how there are no schoolbooks or supplies," he said.
He estimated that a lottery could bring in $100 million, with $30 million to $40 million going to the schools.
But Rep. Ed Case, a Manoa Democrat also running for governor, said today that any form of gambling would hurt Hawaii more than it would help education.
"We don't need a lottery to fix education," Case said. "The problems in education stem from governance and failures to provide efficient administration."
Republican gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle and Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, the third major Democratic candidate for governor, have both previously said they oppose all forms of gambling.
A second Anderson proposal for an amendment to the state Constitution would require the state to spend more money for classroom education by pegging Hawaii's spending per student to at least the top third of all states. He said that would mean the state's $6,000-per-student spending would have to rise to $9,000.
"It would be fruitless to find new lottery dollars only to have the general fund dollars lessened," he said. "We cannot continue to lag behind the country in per-pupil spending and expect our schools to be educationally competitive."
While serving in the state Senate, Anderson twice voted for lotteries, although at that time neither proposal was earmarked for education.
To bolster his argument for an education lottery, Anderson noted that "America has a long history of lotteries and raffles to raise money for worthwhile community projects, including Harvard, Yale and Princeton universities."
A total of 39 states and the District of Columbia have lotteries, with the average spending for lotteries pegged at $157 a person a year, according to figures from the National Association of State Lotteries. The proceeds available to the states totaled nearly $12 billion, according to the association.