Lottery plan flawed

The Legislature's budget analyst on Monday called Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's lottery proposal "flawed" and warned lawmakers that money for public schools could fall short of current levels under the plan.Sacramento Bee,

Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill issued a critical reaction to the governor's proposal to obtain $15 billion from future lottery revenues over the next few years to help fill a widening budget gap, now at $15.2 billion.

Currently, lottery profits benefit public schools, from kindergarten to community colleges. Hill wrote that the Schwarzenegger administration made "overly optimistic" assumptions about the potential growth in lottery sales. She warned that public education funding "would fall well short of their current levels -- perhaps by $5 billion over the next 12 years combined."