The California winner of the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot has been named — and some of that money will trickle down to the state’s education system.
The California Lottery announced on Twitter that Edwin Castro is the winner of the record-setting jackpot. That ticket was purchased at Joe’s Service Center on Woodbury Road in Altadena.
Castro — who declined to appear at the news conference — indicated that he’s taking the lump sum, which comes in at just under $1 billion.
A statement from Castro read by a lottery official Tuesday said he was “shocked and ecstatic” to win. Castro also said that he was educated in California public schools and pleased that state schools would benefit from his winning ticket.
Lottery officials said beyond his name, which is public record in California, and the statement he provided, they’d give out no further details about Castro.
Where does the money go?
According to the California Lottery, the lottery has given California public schools more than $41 billion since 1985, and gave around $2 billion to public schools in the last two years alone — which is roughly 1% of the state’s annual budget for public schools.
The share of the pie breaks down like this:
- K-12: 79.9%
- Community Colleges: 14%
- Cal State University system: 3.7%
- University of California campuses: 2.3%.
More numbers to remember
1, 2, 20, 37, 41, and 23. But those aren’t the numbers that won the Powerball.
The California lottery raised about 1% of the state’s annual budget for public schools. In the last two years alone, it raised about $2 billion.
Of the money earmarked for education, 80% goes to K-12 schools, and the remaining…
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