Legislature approves funds for Agassi’s charter school

Tuesday, June 1, 1999 | 11:15 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Andre Agassi may or may not win the French Open taking place now in Paris, but the tennis star definitely aced a victory in the Legislature for a charter home in Las Vegas.

The Legislature passed a bill Monday to revise the 2-year-old law on charter schools. Tucked away in the bill is $600,000 for the Andre Agassi Foundation, which initially started a Boys and Girls Club in Southern Nevada and now plans a $4 million school.

The unprecedented move to provide funding for building a private charter school didn't sit well with some members. Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, called it "inappropriate" to spend money on charter schools while the public schools are not properly funded.

When the bill was in the Assembly, she said, there was no testimony about giving Agassi $600,000. Giunchigliani, a schoolteacher, said, "I could not after four years convince this body to use general fund money for K-12 existing schools that are falling apart. And then all of a sudden they are able to come up with public money for a charter school that's going to be built regardless if the state puts any money into it or not."

Steve Horsford of R&R Advertising, which represents the foundation, said, "He (Agassi) wants to build the charter school as a model for Nevada and for the nation. He wants the state to be a partner, and that's why he sought the support."

Agassi never appeared at the Legislature, which closed Monday, but sent a video earlier to the Senate requesting the money.

There is only one charter school in Nevada now, located in Reno. And the state, until now, has never given any money for construction of the schools. Some see this as a precedent that will open the door for other requests.

Horsford said the Agassi Foundation has raised three-quarters of the money to construct the $4 million education center on the same site as the Boys and Girls Club, which is adjacent to the Marble Manor housing development in Assemblyman Wendell Williams' district. Williams, lukewarm on charter schools in the past, said this bill "takes us in a direction that is positive."

He said the fact the Agassi school was being located in his district did not influence him. But Williams, chairman of the Education Committee, added it provided "incentive to work on the bill." He said he still wanted to go slow on the issue of charter schools.

Horsford said, "This is the only Boys and Girls club on public housing property." The school will serve grades 6-12 with about 250 students. It should be completed by the fall of 2000.

The foundation has given $750,000. The Department of Housing and Urban Development chipped in $750,000 and money is being sought from the U.S. Department of Education and private foundations. Horsford said private foundations contributed heavily to the Boys and Girls Club.

The charter school bill opens the door a little wider for these educational ventures.