But the Governor's Office said that idea can't win.

The group, which opposes Wake County's proposed $970 million school bond issue, said lottery proceeds could be used to build schools instead. At a news conference Tuesday, Americans for Prosperity state director Fran DeLuca argued that devoting all lottery revenue to school construction could keep property taxes from rising as quickly.

"Simply put, right now, lottery dollars would be better spent on bricks and mortar," he said.

A representative of Gov. Mike Easley said DeLuca's argument was poorly thought out. Dan Gerlach, the governor's senior fiscal adviser, said lottery money is being set aside to hire teachers for thousands of at-risk children and to reduce class sizes at elementary schools.

"You could build schools, but you'd have to lay off teachers," he said.

On Nov. 7, Wake County voters will be asked to approve the $970 million in bonds as part of a $1.056 billion school construction plan designed to help the school system cope with rapid growth. Over the next four years, Wake expects to add 32,000 students.

When the lottery was created in 2005, lawmakers debated how to spend the proceeds. Under the approved formula, 50 percent goes to educational programs, 40 percent to construction and 10 percent to college scholarships.

At the time, some argued that all the money should go toward construction.

Rep. Larry Brown, a Republican from Kernersville, eventually voted against the lottery bill. But during the debate, he said that the proceeds should be spent to build schools. He said that most of his colleagues did not agree.

Changing the formula now "would be like pulling eye teeth when they've already been pulled," he said.

Wake County gets about $9 million a year from the lottery for school construction. If the law were changed so that all lottery money went toward new schools, Wake would get about $15 million -- less than the cost of one elementary school.

"Their solution sounds nice, but it is not going to solve our needs for 7,600 new students a year," said Kim Gazella, a spokeswoman for the pro-bonds Friends of Wake County. "This doesn't change the need for this bond on Nov. 7."

Not that Wake is happy with how lottery proceeds are distributed. Tony Gurley, chairman of the county commissioners, said the formula favors counties with higher-than-average property tax rates. As a result, Wake gets roughly half the lottery money that Mecklenburg County does.

Gurley said commissioners have told legislators that they would like Wake to get more money. He said he was open to the idea of putting more money toward construction at the same time.

"The formula definitely needs correcting," he said.

Before the lottery was approved, Americans for Prosperity argued against it, and the group's Web site still contends the lottery will lead to "corruption" and "wasteful pork spending."

"These are people who hated the lottery all along, and now they choose to find it as the salvation," Gerlach said.

But an Americans for Prosperity spokesman, Dallas Woodhouse, said the group's position has not changed.

"The lottery is the law now, so the question is: How do we best use the money?" he said.