by Christopher Skjonsby

Created on: October 13, 2007

Any money added to the education system is a bonus. It really becomes a question of what the educational system would do with it. With rapidly changing technology our schools are becoming more outdated. The influx of gambling money can help ease the burden on the taxpayer and ensure students are receiving a better education.

We do have to recognize the social cost. Gambling is an addiction, like alcoholism or smoking. Now we ask the moral question. Is it right to take this "tainted" money and use it towards educating our children? Educational programs need to be setup for understanding of theses addictions. Teaching our children skills to recognize when friends, family or oneself becomes addicted and the proper course of action to be taken in that situation. It should be mandatory that classes on addiction be offered.

Educational operating budgets should not be based upon this revenue. The amount of money being added should be used for large one time purchases. Modernizing a classroom into an interactive lab, building an addition for more class rooms to help reduce class size are just a few ideas. When the system begins to base their operational budget on this money it will spell doom for the students. As gambling shifts to the next community over the funds will dry up and the quality in the classroom will go down.

Gambling is an excellent source of revenue. By bringing tourism dollars, funding local charities, helping junior sports within the community, it will benefit and flourish. It's what is done with the money that is important. The educational board of trustees should have some strict guidelines on how the funds are to be dispersed.

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