Lucky fix for schools without raising taxes

Gov. Quinn brought the people of Illinois to the proverbial fork in the road and has presented us with two options: Either raise our income tax 1 percent or cut education.

I have a better solution. The adult population of Illinois is around 9.5 million people. If my calculations are correct, 1.3 billion divided by 9.5 million equals about 136 one-dollar lottery tickets per adult. That is cheaper than increasing the income tax by one-percent which for a person earning $40,000 would amount to $400 more a year.

It is high time that we grown-ups do our part and buy our fair-share of lottery tickets to help Governor Quinn avoid this "percent for education initiative" he cannot seem to avoid. Let's save education, not raise our taxes, and maybe get lucky in the process!

Eric Di Silvestro

Chicago