State schools Superintendent Kathy Cox says lottery ticket prices should be raised to help pay for K-12 education in Georgia.

Cox said during an appearance Friday on CNN that hiking the price by just 50 cents per ticket could raise $350 million to help fill a massive hole left by state budget cuts in the last two years.

Cox said raising prices would ensure K-12 got money while also preserving funding for the HOPE college scholarship and state's prekindergarten program.

The state constitution already allows lottery revenue to go to technology and buildings for elementary and high schools, but lawmakers stopped allotting that money to K-12 in 2003. The state's education budget has been slashed by nearly $1 billion in the past 19 months amid the worst economic crisis in decades.

Cox, a Republican, is running for her third term as state school chief.

Tags: budget cuts, public schools, State Superintendent Kathy Cox, lottery tickets