Gov. Sonny Perdue plans to push for a state constitutional amendment to protect the HOPE scholarship, seizing a popular issue that could help his re-election campaign next year.

Perdue said he would unveil a proposal today designed to keep state legislators from using Georgia lottery money for anything except HOPE college scholarships, pre-kindergarten classes and financial reserves. The governor said he planned to announce the proposal --- dubbed the HOPE Chest --- during an address to the Georgia School Boards Association meeting in Savannah.

Perdue's action comes more than a year after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that during the first 10 years of the lottery, the state spent more than $1.8 billion --- roughly one-third of lottery proceeds --- for projects other than HOPE and pre-kindergarten. That kind of spending has not taken place for several years.

"If this had been in place in the past, we would be awash in money," Perdue said Thursday in an interview. "We cannot manage HOPE for the next quarter. We have to manage it for the next generation."

Perdue and other state leaders have repeatedly expressed concerns about the economic future of HOPE, despite rosy forecasts such as a report this week that lottery sales will set another record for the year. The lottery will contribute $810 million to HOPE and pre-k this year.

The Republican governor's proposal to shield lottery proceeds could help insulate him, during his re-election campaign next year, from Democratic charges that he has sought to damage the HOPE scholarship, said Emory University political science professor Merle Black. HOPE has helped educate 850,000 students.

"This is the governor showing leadership on what has become one of the most popular programs in the state," Black said. "Do the Democrats argue against this? I don't think so."

'Creative' spending

During the 2004 legislative session, Perdue proposed cutting more than $120 million in payments for HOPE students' textbooks and fees. The governor was criticized by Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor and other Democrats, who helped kill the proposal.

Earlier this year, Democrats charged that Perdue misused $1.7 million in lottery money by spending it to create a Web site of information for college-bound students (www.gacollege411.com). Democrats argued that the governor was taking money away from HOPE, but Perdue staffers said the site allowed the state to build a system to better track HOPE recipients.

Perdue's proposed constitutional amendment probably wouldn't block his cybershop program, because the money was used, in part, on the administration of HOPE.

Taylor, who has consistently opposed cuts in HOPE and is a rival for the governor's office in 2006, questioned the timing of Perdue's proposal.

"If he's really sincere about protecting HOPE and this is not a political ploy, then he should be restoring the HOPE cuts students are feeling right now," Taylor said.

Some students are seeing less of their educational expenses paid by HOPE, because the Legislature capped payments for mandatory college fees, which at some schools continue to rise.

Under HOPE, students with a B or better average get free tuition and some money for books and fees at the state's public colleges. Private school students who have the grades can earn $3,000.

During the decade after the lottery was started in 1993, the Legislature approved spending lottery money on seldom-used satellite dishes, renovations of historic buildings, special scholarships for students attending favored private schools and a $50 million public broadcasting and telecommunications complex.

"There were some creative things done under the guise of education," Perdue said.

Former Gov. Roy Barnes began shutting off the spigot for such projects during his final two years in office, and Perdue has continued that policy since taking office in 2003.

Bipartisan support

Perdue said his proposal to use the lottery proceeds only for HOPE and pre-kindergarten classes is common sense.

"I think this is what it should be used for, what it should have been used for," the governor said. "I'm backed by the fact that this is what the people think the lottery should have been used for."

Sen. Brian Kemp (R-Athens), vice chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, noted that the Senate approved a similar measure in 2004, but it stalled in the House. A similar bill went nowhere in the Senate this year.

"I think it's a very good piece of legislation and would certainly pass," Kemp said. "Our perspective the whole time has been that we need to preserve the HOPE and pre-kindergarten programs for the future, and this would be another step in us doing that."

With HOPE's popularity, Democrats will probably support the proposed amendment too.