Plan For Scholarships From Lottery Pulled

Two eastern Idaho senators on Thursday abandoned their plan to divert state Lottery profits from buildings to students.

Republican Sens. Bob Lee of Rexburg and John Hansen of Idaho Falls withdrew their proposed Idaho Merit Scholarship Fund from the Senate Education Committee because the cost was just too high.

The fund would give every Idaho senior who graduates with at least a B average a $1,000 scholarship to a public college or university in Idaho and could be renewed each year for four years as long as the student maintained at least a B average.

It was the bill’s $4.4 million average annual cost that torpedoed it. The cash would have reduced the Lottery revenue - which averages around $20 million a year - that now financed general government and public school building projects. Most of the general government building is on the college and university campuses.