Monday, the Senate could take up a bill regulating sports betting and a Louisiana Policy Institute for Children survey of 600 voters finds over three-quarters support dedicating revenue from that activity to early childhood education.
LPIC Executive Director Dr. Libbie Sonnier said there’s an ongoing debate as to where to send revenue from the soon-to-be-available activity. She says most voters agree early childhood is the best option.
“They will be able to find what they need for their children and know that their children are in a safe environment that is also educating them so that they can enter into kindergarten ready to learn,” said Sonnier.
63 percent of Republicans and 72 percent of Democrats supported dedicating those funds in statute to early childhood education instead of sending it to the general fund.
Legislative estimates show it would cost 86 million dollars a year to guarantee early childhood education for all at-risk and underserved Louisiana kids. Sports betting is estimated to generate 10 to 30 million a year.
There’s widespread legislative support for increasing early childhood funding but resistance to creating yet another dedicated source of revenue, but Sonnier said the funds really have to be dedicated.
“If revenue goes into the general fund there is no guarantee that early care and education will get any of that, so it is really important that the revenue be dedicated,” said Sonnier.
The concern with dedicating the sports betting funds is that should the state face an economic downtown it would be unable to draw from those funds to make a balanced budget.
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