Passage of school aid bill was in the details

WASHINGTON -- Once the lightning rod was taken down, it became that much easier for Nevada lawmakers to earmark a federal grant to the Las Vegas charter school founded by Andre Agassi, budget watchdogs said Thursday.

A 2008 spending bill for labor, education and health programs that Congress is trying to finalize this week or next contains $500,000 for technology curriculum and training at the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy.

The funding was in question for a few days in July when a cadre of Republican conservatives challenged what then was a $200,000 earmark in an earlier House version of the bill. They charged that Agassi, a Las Vegas philanthropist and former professional tennis star, shouldn't need a federal handout.

But Nevada Reps. Shelley Berkley and Jon Porter defended the school and fought off an amendment that would have stripped out the money.

Meanwhile, Sen. Harry Reid inserted $500,000 in a corresponding bill in the Senate, and it passed the body without notice. A conference committee harmonizing the House and Senate versions settled on the higher amount.

Nevadans justified the earmark as a deserved federal contribution to a showcase school in which Agassi has donated millions of his own money and continues to subsidize its students. The school, established in 2001 at 1201 W. Lake Mead Blvd., aims to improve education opportunities for at-risk students.

Budget watchdogs said they think they saw another reason why the Las Vegas earmark might have enjoyed smooth sailing once it left the House.

Unlike the House bill, the Senate measure contained no mention of Agassi. Instead, the $500,000 was earmarked "to integrate technology into the curriculum of a charter school in Las Vegas." That enabled it to blend in among 1,173 line items in a 337-page bill.

"It is what it is," said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog organization. "Earmarks are often written in obscure language so people don't necessarily know everything about it."

Reid spokesman Jon Summers maintained the project was not disguised to avoid earmark hawks who might have been be looking for targets. The money appropriately was listed as going to the "Charter School Development Fund," the formal name of the Agassi school's funding base, he said.

Anyone looking for the line item could have found it, Summers said. "It was not a secret that it was in there," he said.

David Williams, policy director of Citizens Against Government Waste, said if researchers really wanted to find the earmark "we probably could have. But it would have been difficult."

"In this case, it was probably done to hide it," Williams said.

Williams explained that researchers sift through bills looking for "lightning rods" they can spotlight to further their arguments that earmarked spending is wasteful. Agassi, who is world-renowned, was a lightning rod, he said.

"No disrespect to Andre Agassi, but if you don't see that name, you just go on to the next one (line item)," Williams said.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or (202) 783-1760.