Agassi And Nevada Governor Back Doral Academy West

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 15th February 2014

Agassi And Nevada Governor Back Doral Academy West

epa03557796 US tennis great Andre Agassi brings the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup, the trophy for the men's singles winner, on court at the Rod Laver Arena before the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Andy Murray of Great Britain at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 27 January 2013. EPA/Narendra Shrestha |

Andre Agassi and Governor Brian Sandoval visited Doral Academy West, a southwest valley charter school that was opened in August thanks to the Canyon-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund.

Agassi started the fund with Los Angeles investor Bobby Turner, raising a remarkable $550 million to help charter schools get off the ground.

The Doral campus is leased from the Canyon-Agassi fund, which spent $9 million to convert a former University of Phoenix campus to the current site, which is just outside of Las Vegas.

Doral Academy West would likely not have been able to construct state-of-the-art classrooms without the fund. Charter schools get no capital funding from the public, but many of them receive state funding comparable to the per-student allocations traditional public schools receive.

Agassi’s first charter school, the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, has been operating in West Las Vegas since 2001.

Money for construction, building leases, or purchases must be raised and Agassi has done a good job with that at his annual star-studded fundraising event.

Agassi’s fund and a new Nevada state law gives charter schools access to low-interest state bond funds.

The Review-Journal says Doral Academy West hopes to use the bonds to purchase the building from the fund, which would provide Agassi’s group with a 10 percent return on investment.

Some have criticized the former eight-time Grand Slam champion for potentially making money off the purchase.

Two more Nevada charter schools backed by Agassi’s fund are scheduled to open in the fall. Land has been purchased in Henderson, which is right outside of Las Vegas, for an additional campus. Agassi has gone as far as saying that up to 30 more charter schools could benefit from the fund in the years ahead.

Topics: 10sballs, Andre Agassi, Brian Sandoval, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News