Part of Powerball proceeds go to California schools

CUPERTINO, Calif. (KGO) -- The Powerball frenzy is attracting many new players who don't know some of the money will go to education.

A crowd stood in line outside Kavanagh Liquors in San Lorenzo for a chance at the big jackpot. Kavanagh has sold five winning tickets of $1 million or more.

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Officials said some of the proceeds from the lottery go to California schools.

The state lottery has generated over $1 billion for public education 14 years in a row and $29 billion in all since the lottery began 30 years ago.

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At least 80 percent off it goes to primary and secondary schools, 14 percent to community colleges, four percent to Cal State University and two percent to U.C. campuses.

Cupertino is one of five high schools in the Fremont Union District, which received $1.8 million in lottery money this year. Most of it went toward teacher salaries. Close to $200,000 was used to buy textbooks.

Susan Rocha is the school and district's teacher of the year. "Obviously people are thinking the bigger the jackpot the more I can win, but at the same time, like I said a by-product of that the schools will benefit," she said.

However, lottery officials acknowledge the money is only one percent of the education budget. For that reason, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom thinks the benefit is misleading. "It's misleading and hurtful to public education because people believe that more of the money is going to public education than in fact is," he said.

Still, Powerball ticket buyers are believers. "Obviously, I would love to win the big prize. I'd love to win one of the smaller amounts, but also I like to support education," one woman said.

State lottery officials said that 95 cents out of every dollar spent on tickets does go back to the schools.

Someone who hit five out of six numbers in the last Powerball nearly two months ago in Carmichael has never stepped forward, so that's a $671,000

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If no one wins the jackpot, the estimated jackpot for Saturday's drawing will increase to $2 billion, with a cash value of $1.24 billion.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.