The Discretionary Lottery Funds entitlement is calculated by the State of Florida Department of Education based on a formula established in the General Appropriations Act.

When the funds were established, the District primarily used the funds to pay salaries and fringe benefits for a number of annual contract teachers. The District also distributed $10.00 per FTE (Full Time Equivalent) student to each school for School Improvement.

For the fiscal year 2008-09, the $10.00 per UWFTE was lowered to $5.00 per FTE.

For the fiscal year 2009-10, the Discretionary Lottery Funds were only used for the School Improvement portion and the allocation amount was lowered to $2.61 per Unweighted FTE.

For the fiscal years 2010-11 and 2011-12, the funding provided from the State was only used for School Improvement and was allocated at $2.59 and $2.72 respectively per Unweighted FTE.

At the beginning of fiscal year 2012-2013 and again for FY 2013-14, there are no appropriations for School Improvement funds.  The State has said that funding will be dependent on remaining funds after School Recognition dollars are distributed throughout the state.