California Public Schools Benefit

The mission of the California Lottery is to raise supplemental funding for public education. 

The Lottery has generated more than $46 billion for California’s public schools since we began in 1985. For the first time in California Lottery history, we raised a record of more than $2 billion for education in the 2023-2024 Fiscal Year. While that’s an unprecedented figure, it’s a modest number for the state’s annual budget for public schools. Remember, Lottery funds are meant to supplement public education, not replace state and local funding.

Since Lottery funds are largely discretionary, they help schools do things they otherwise couldn’t, such as attracting and retaining more quality teachers, buying state-of-the-art equipment, enhancing learning environments, and keeping critical programs running.

Schools are not our only beneficiary! Did you know 95 cents of every dollar spent on Lottery games goes back to the community through contributions to public schools and colleges, prizes, and retail compensation? Thank you to our players and our retail partners  for making it all possible!

Positively impacting communities across California is just part of our commitment to corporate social responsibility, and every member of the Lottery team shares this dedication.

Funding Is Based on Sales

The State Controller’s Office determines how much Lottery funds are dispersed to public education institutions. Lottery funding is based on the Average Daily Attendance (ADA) for K-12 and community college school districts and by full-time enrollment for higher education and other specialized institutions. 

These are the schools that have received funds, along with their percentages of cumulative distributions: