Dear Governor Arnold Swartzenager RE; California Education and the State Lottery. An now Alameda has stepped up!

Now many times when I share an idea with you all on my blog the neatest thing tends to happen immediately after. It seams more often than not my current thought or idea is some how part of our news in a very short time after I have made my statement. Take for instance the lack of funding for the Education of our kids right here in California. I used our lottery system as an example of why there was a contract not being honored by our State. An low and behold the good people in Alameda California have agreed with me. Immediately below is the very first portion of the lottery law and where you can find it. Right after that is the story from Alameda California in regards to our education funding crisis here in this State. After that is my letter telling our State representative he has broken our contract. All I am trying to do is say that we all see things that are just not right, take a chance and share your concerns; I know the next great idea comes from all of us! That’s why I believe in MAGIC!

http://law.justia.com/california/codes/gov/8880-8880.14.html
GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 8880-8880.14
8880. Citation of Chapter
This Chapter shall be known and may be cited as the California State Lottery Act of 1984.
8880.1. Purpose and Intent
The People of the State of California declare that the purpose of this Act is support for preservation of the rights, liberties and welfare of the people by providing additional monies to benefit education without the imposition of additional or increased taxes.
The People of the State of California further declare that it is their intent that the net revenues of the California State Lottery shall not be used as substitute funds but rather shall supplement the total amount of money allocated for public education in California.

California sued over education funding crisis
It has come to this in California: Desperate educators are turning to the courts for some relief from historic budget cuts that are leaving some districts unable to provide all students with an equal opportunity to meet the state’s academic goals.
A broad coalition of organizations and school districts
filed a lawsuit Thursday in the Superior Court of California in Alameda asking that the state’s education finance system be declared unconstitutional. It also seeks creation of a new process by which schools are equitably funded.
California’s public schools have been battered by budget cuts in recent years. The state Constitution gives education financing a unique priority by requiring that "from all state revenues there shall first be set apart the monies to be applied by the State for support of the public school system.” The lawsuit argues that recent budget cuts have violated this requirement.
In the last two years, $17 billion has been cut from schools and colleges, and several billion more in cuts are scheduled. California once was No. 1 in the country in per pupil spending; now it is 47th, spending $2,856 less per pupil than the national average, according to the California School Boards Association.
From 1929 to 1935, during the Great Depression, per pupil funding in California dropped 20 percent, according to Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Association. In the last two years, per pupil funding in the state has gone down 18 percent.
The lawsuit, Robles-Wong v. California, was filed by a coalition, including more than 60 individual students and their families, nine school districts across the state, the California School Boards Association (CSBA), California State PTA, and the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA).
Shool financing has been so battered by instability that it has been impossible for districts to deliver to California’s diverse student population the education guaranteed under the Constitution, the suit contends.
Only half of all California students are proficient in English-language arts nd less than half (approximately 46 percent) are proficient in math. In addition, less than 70 percent of California students graduate from high school.
Of course, even if the lawsuit is successful, it will take years to go through the California courts. California's leaders need to rethink their commitment to public education right now.
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Dear Governor Arnold Swartzenager RE; California Education and the State Lottery
RE; Education and the State Lottery



Dear Governor Swartzenager of California;

It has become apparent that our California Government has failed in there contract with its citizens in dealing with the funding of our children’s education. The tax payers of California and our past Government representatives came upon and structured a California lottery to benefit the education of our children while providing a lottery to participate in. The deal was voted on and the contract was made. The funds created by our new lottery were to be used as additional funding and never instead of or replacing the responsibilities of our Government for the schools of California. In your current and past budgets you and others before have reduced the funding to our schools and thus have broken the law we had created. You see I feel since you have broken the contract we have created by the vote of the people you have thus abandoned your right to receive any Lottery proceeds. Was the creation of the California Lottery not a contract between government and its citizens? Did we not draft terms in which to hold the contract valid? I feel there is no disputing these facts and that the California Government must now return all funds we provided with interest back to the Lottery Pool. From there the lottery must refigure all jack pot winnings and disperse funds accordingly.

Or the Government can balance past deficits and currently fund the schools and bring our contract valid. As for moving forward maybe we need a new contract and change the requirements of all involved.

As always I wish to Thank You in advance for the attention you will give my concerns.




Sincerely



The Tax Payers of California