A blog submitted to your website says: “I’d like The Pilot to write an article explaining where all the funds from the education ­lottery go … Who makes these decisions and distributions of the who gets what and which school districts?”

Through Dec. 31, 2009, the North Carolina Education Lottery (NCEL) has transferred $1.35 billion to education. Another transfer covering January through March 2010 will be made by the end of April. The lottery act ­designates four education programs to receive the funds: More at Four, class-size reduction, school construction and college scholarships.

Each year, after the end of the fiscal year, we produce a beneficiary brochure showing a county by county accounting in each of the four programs receiving lottery ­proceeds. You can find this information at www.nc-educationlottery.org/about_where-the-money-goes.aspx. Click on each of the brochures to see the accounting for that particular year.

The NCEL transfers dollars four times each fiscal year to the Office of State Budget and Management. State Budget then disburses the dollars to the four programs listed above. The Department of Public Instruction administers all of the programs except for the college scholarship program, which is administered by the State Education Assistance Authority. Once the NCEL transfers the dollars, its work is done.

Lottery revenues are disbursed according to the State Lottery Act, so the North Carolina Legislature makes the determination on how to spend lottery proceeds. Approximately 30 percent of revenues go to education, 58 percent to pay prizes, 7 ­percent to retailers and 5 percent to ­administration. Within the 5 percent for administration, 1.59 percent goes to the gaming vendor, 1 percent to advertising, 1.2 percent for salaries and the rest for general administration.

The NCEL is proud of its contribution to education in North Carolina and believes it has helped during these difficult budget years.

Alice Garland

North Carolina Education Lottery

Raleigh