Oklahoma lawmakers to pay back $10 million to education fund

Oklahoma lawmakers to pay back $10 million to education fund
(Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma lawmakers will have to pay back $10 million to the Lottery Trust Fund before making any appropriations for the next fiscal year.
The Tulsa World reports Oklahoma’s lottery was created with constitutional language to prevent money raised from being diverted away from education spending.
Last month, the state Board of Equalization was informed that lottery money had supplanted funds for education in fiscal 2017. A revenue failure was declared with a budget shortfall for fiscal year 2018.
Now, the Office of Management and Enterprise Services will be in charge of ensuring the lottery money will be used for education spending enhancement.
Statutory requirements say 45 percent of the funds need to go to common education, with 45 percent going to higher education, and 5 percent going to each school consolidation fund and the teachers’ retirement system.