When voters approved a casino in Oxford Hills one of the major selling points  was the promise of 25% of revenue going to the Dept. of Education. Last year, that didn’t happen. Gov. LePage diverted $12M in funds from schools to the general fund to close a $112M budget gap. He told lawmakers that if the funds from the casino weren’t used, the school budgets would be cut by that amount anyway.

This year, the bi-partisan Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee changed the language in that budget so that the money will go to schools as voters intended.  Projected revenue from the casino marked for K-12 schools for ’13 is $13.6M .

The badly needed funds would be a bright spot for Maine schools, who have seen massive funding cuts in the past few years.

Read more at the Portland Press Herald: Chances of Casino Funds Benefiting Schools Rise