Legislative briefs for March 7, 2005

Monday, March 7, 2005 | 11:02 a.m.

Agassi school seeks $900,000

The Andre Agassi charter school in Las Vegas wants $900,000 from the state to help build classrooms for kindergarten and first graders.

Morgan Baumgartner, lobbyist for the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, told the Senate Finance Committee today that the McGraw-Hill Company has made a substantial donation towards starting the new grades at the school. She said the state had contributed $600,000 in 1999 towards construction.

The Finance Committee agreed to introduce a bill for the appropriation.

The committee also agreed this morning to ask for a bill to provide $10 million a year for operation of the Nevada Cancer Institute in Las Vegas. Heather Murren, president of the cancer institute, said the insitute will open in July. She said $50 million in bonds have been sold and $50 million in private donations have been collected.

This $10 million a year would be in addition to the $10 million recommended by Gov. Kenny Guinn for building the institute's satellite facility in Reno at the University of Nevada Medical School.

Bill on charter schools introduced

Assemblyman Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, and 26 other legislators introduced a bill Friday that would give the state Board of Education more power over rejecting applications for charter schools.

Assembly Bill 168 gives the Board of Education the same discretion that school boards now have to reject applications.

Right now, charter schools can apply to a school district for an application. If it is rejected, the school has 30 days to correct the application and resubmit it. If the application is rejected again, the school can submit an applicaton to the Board of Education, which has to approve the application if it meets basic criteria, Denis said.

Open bidding set for triage center

A group of residents who had concerns that the Legislature was trying to shuffle money directly to WestCare to fund a Clark County triage center for mental health patients has said they are satisfied that the process now will be open for bidding to other health care providers.

Residents and health care providers sent letters to the Assembly Ways and Means Committee complaining that Assembly Bill 40, which would give $500,000 to a WestCare triage center, didn't allow other providers to bid on the project.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, who sponsored the bill, said she was trying to provide emergency money for the existing center, but would want to open a bidding process if the state decides to fund a Clark County center in coming years. The triage center is designed to provide health care to mental health patients who otherwise could end up in an emergency room or in jail.