New York’s governor, Eliot Spitzer, floated the possibility of partly privatizing the state’s lottery, in order to create an endowment for public higher education, in his annual address to lawmakers today.

The governor, a Democrat, said a fruitful endowment for the New York public-university system would need at least $4-billion, a figure that happens to match the state’s current budget deficit.

“We should unlock some of the value of the New York State Lottery, either by taking in private investment or looking at other financing alternatives,” said Governor Spitzer. “Higher-education funding should no longer be a budgetary pawn or a yearly battle. It must be a permanent priority.”

Mr. Spitzer also endorsed a proposal to add 2,000 faculty members to public universities in the state, to be paid for through the proposed endowment. The faculty proposal stemmed from a preliminary report issued last month by a commission charged with improving New York’s higher-education system.

The governor also touted a bill that would guarantee combat veterans in the state a full reimbursement for tuition at any college or university in the State University of New York or City University of New York systems. —JJ Hermes