The State - News from June 20, 1986

A proposal to allow school districts to use lottery funds to build classrooms was rejected by the state Senate’s Government Organization Committee. Critics of the bill said lottery proceeds are an unreliable source of school funding. The Los Angeles Unified School District is seeking a law that would allow it to use lottery funds for construction, but district officials said they are pinning their hopes on another bill, by Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), that will be heard by the committee later this month. Waters’ bill would permit districts to pay for school construction with lottery funds and to be reimbursed by the state. A similar measure was narrowly defeated last year. The lottery law now specifies that the 34% of lottery funds allotted to schools be used to improve instruction.