LOOKING IN ON: EDUCATION

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 | 7 a.m.

There were plenty of jokes at Monday's groundbreaking for the new $61 million Vegas PBS technology campus, most at the expense of general manager Tom Axtell.

He showed up with something already broken - his arm.

Axtell was putting up garage shelves at home when the ladder gave way - a ladder that was clearly not "OSHA approved," said Frank Martin of Martin-Harris Construction, which will be building the facility.

Even Axtell couldn't resist a crack at his own expense.

"I knew fundraising could be tough, especially that last million," Axtell said.

The campus on the northeast corner of East Flamingo Road and McLeod Drive will include broadcasting facilities for Vegas PBS, the Clark County School District's Virtual High School and the region's emergency alert operations.

The building's "green" design includes geothermal wells and rooftop solar panels.

Even with those innovations, Axtell says the facility will stay true to its public television roots, incorporating "the warmth of Big Bird, the pragmatism of Jim Lehrer, the idealism of Jacques Cousteau and the good taste of Julia Child."

The Nevada Education Department is a step closer to choosing an evaluator for its statewide tutoring program.

Four firms, including two from the Las Vegas area, submitted bids by the July 13 deadline. State education officials are expected to pick a consultant early next month.

But they wouldn't say whether the bids were within the project's $50,000 budget.

"At least there's some competition," said Keith Rheault, Nevada's superintendent of public instruction. "Hopefully we'll be able to afford the best one out of the four."

Since 2004 Nevada's public schools have spent nearly $12 million in federal funds on tutoring services - nearly all of it in Clark County. The federal dollars are earmarked for schools serving large numbers of students from low-income households.

But federal law makes the state educators responsible for verifying the tutors' qualifications, monitoring districts and evaluating student achievement.

Like most states, Nevada is behind schedule. As of this spring only Georgia, New Mexico and Tennessee had completed comprehensive evaluations of the tutoring program.

Federal officials warned last year that states must start the evaluations quickly or risk losing funding.

Republicans want to block a federal appropriation of $200,000 for the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, a charter school serving a primarily black student population in West Las Vegas.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., proposed the allocation to Agassi Prep, which was opened by the tennis star and Las Vegas native in 2001.

The Republican Study Committee will try this week to cut the funding from the 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services spending bill.

In the committee's blog, the Republicans note that Forbes magazine estimated Agassi's worth at $162 million. "Far less wealthy taxpayers" are being asked to pay for the school, they say.

In an online campaign of its own, Berkley's office is urging Republicans to "listen to one of their own" - Rep. John Porter, R-Nev.

In 2003, during a visit to the campus, Porter told the Sun Agassi Prep was "a model charter school for the rest of the nation." He again singled out the campus for praise last year when the House considered a $175,000 appropriation, which ultimately fell through.

Porter's support of Agassi Prep has never wavered and he won't support an amendment to strike the funding from the bill, the congressman's spokesman said Tuesday.

"Agassi Prep serves a critical function for underprivileged youths in Las Vegas," press secretary Matt Leffingwell said.

If the Grand Slam champion himself were to take issue with the Republicans' opposition, he might well start with the vintage photograph they used to illustrate the blog. The file photo shows a scruffy, shaggy Agassi circa 1989, complete with sweatband, shoulder-length locks and 10 o'clock shadow.