KYRILLOS: LOTTERY WINNINGS SHOULD FUND GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL

KYRILLOS: LOTTERY WINNINGS SHOULD FUND GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL

$2.5 million appropriation would fund all six schools through next summer

Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth/Middlesex) today asked the New Jersey Lottery to appropriate $2.5 million of the unclaimed $19 million winning lottery ticket to fund the Governor’s School program.            

 “The Governor’s School instills our best and brightest with the skills and confidence to move forward in life and provide future leadership to our state. It was foolish that funding for this program was cut from the budget last year and even more upsetting that it was not reinstated in this year’s proposal,� said Kyrillos.             

He asserts that a $2.5 million appropriation from the New Jersey Lottery would be enough to keep all six schools running through next summer.            

 “Past funding for the program came from the Lottery, so it makes sense to ask them to contribute a portion of these unclaimed winnings to help our state’s scholars,� he said. “$2.5 million would keep the program funded through 2008.�            

 In addition to asking for the support of the Lottery, the Senator reached across the aisle to Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny and Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Louis Greenwald to join him in this effort.            

 “We need to fix this problem and the time to do it is now,� said Kyrillos.            

The winning lottery ticket was forfeited as unclaimed on April 25, giving the State a payout of $10.8 million. Had the owner stepped forward and decided to take the winnings in yearly installments, the ticket would have been worth the $19 million. 

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