Nancy Beasley has proposed a special lottery fund for education.

Beasley, the Republican candidate for state senate, said she wants to see lottery profits go directly into a separate fund for schools. Currently, the profits go to the general education fund.

By separating the lottery profits from the rest of the fund, increased lottery profits would go directly to education instead of being figured into the whole budget picture, she said. Lottery money now decreases tax support for education, she said.

While inflation since 1982 climbed 29 percent, non-lottery education funding increased only 14.4 percent, Beasley said. “They (the Illinois legislature) have used major increases in lottery profits to disguise their own lack of support for schools,” she said.

State Sen. Patrick Welch, D-Peru, promised Illinois schools $40 million in lottery profits but the proposal was dropped after the income tax surcharge passed, Beasley said.

“If lottery profits go up $40 million, that’s not $40 million more that the schools get, that’s just $40 million that the legislature does not have to spend out of other tax dollars,” Beasley said.

Beasley also criticized the media for not being as critical of Welch as they could be. Beasley said there is a “media perception” that if an incumbent says something, it must be true.