Complaint: Tarkanian money use broke law
Danny Tarkanian made an “illegal corporate contribution” from a nonprofit he runs to his 2012 congressional campaign, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission.
The complaint follows a KLAS-TV report that $40,000 went from Tarkanian’s charity basketball organization to his campaign during his bid for Nevada’s 4th Congressional District. It was filed by Collier Azare, a campaign co-chair for Dean Heller, whom Tarkanian is challenging in this year’s GOP primary for U.S. Senate.
In an interview Monday with the Las Vegas Review-journal, Tarkanian said he needed the $40,000 to pay outstanding campaign expenses after he won the primary nomination.
Tarkanian said JAMD LLC owed him more than $400,000 from previous loans, but the company did not have the money and borrowed it from Tarkanian’s basketball nonprofit to repay him.
“I needed $40,000 to pay the expenses of my campaign. So it went from the nonprofit to the company, and then the JAMD company repaid me,” Tarkanian said.
KLAS-TV reported that on June
28, 2012, the Tarkanian Basketball Academy transferred $40,000 to JAMD LLC, a company that lists Tarkanian as a member according to records filed with the Nevada Secretary of State’s office. The same day, JAMD LLC transferred $40,000 to Tarkanian’s personal account.
On June 29, 2012, $40,000 was transferred from Tarkanian’s personal account to his congressional campaign as a personal loan, FEC filings show.
It is illegal for a 501(c)3 nonprofit or limited-liability company to transfer money to a congressional campaign, but it’s not illegal or uncommon for candidates to lend their own campaigns money.
On July 11, 2012, Tarkanian’s campaign transferred $53,755 back to his personal account.
The next day, Tarkanian transferred about $400,000, including the $53,755, to a bank as part of a payment for the mortgage so he wouldn’t lose his house, he said. The house, he said, shared a backyard walkway with the home of his father, former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, and allowed him easy access to care for his father as his health deteriorated. Jerry Tarkanian died in February 2015 at age 84.
TARKANIAN
that all happened with the Achievement School District. It created bad blood,” said Mike Barton, the district’s chief academic officer. “And so I think there were attempts on both sides to repair that relationship.”
School performance agreements
This year, 14 struggling schools entered School Performance Agreements, a local initiative that aims to improve schools in the bottom 5 percent statewide to three-star ratings within three years. Three — Lynch, Johnston Middle and Reed Elementary — are also in the Turnaround Zone.
The agreements are a district-developed alternative to the state’s performance compacts, which would have spared schools from entering the achievement district. The School Board rejected that plan in March 2017, preferring local control.
Under the district’s performance agreements, two associate superintendents visit the schools twice a year. They also monitor schools in nine areas, including assessment, climate, leadership and curriculum.
District officials tout the effort as one that acknowledges the need to address poor-performing schools beyond the Turnaround Zone.
“I think it’s a vehicle to promote a sense of urgency and put a microscope on some of the schools that we need to put a microscope on,” Barton said.
Partnership network
The state and district also plan to pilot a partnership network of 30 schools — including two charter schools that are already a part of the Achievement School District and others on the state’s underperforming Rising Star list.
The network allows high-need schools to share services and ideas for improvement.
That means the schools approach funding differently. They still will apply for the state and federal money they would normally seek — such as federal School Improvement Grants or Title I funds — but officials have developed plans to integrate different types of funding to meet their needs, according to Brett Barley, the state’s deputy superintendent of student achievement.
“The difference is that we sat down with Clark County and we talked about how all those different funding streams could come together to create a comprehensive plan,” Barley said.
The network will also include five nonprofits that will work with schools to boost their achievement.
“I do believe that this is far more healthy, to work in a partnerhsip with the state in that way, than to have this ominous thought of an Achievement School District swooping in and taking the school,” said Jeff Geihs, the district’s associate superintendent over the Turnaround Zone.
‘Strong signal’ to state
Kenneth Wong, director of the urban education policy program at Brown University, said the district’s differentiated approach to school improvement is “an appropriate and well-balanced approach” to address shortcomings, as long as the district provides guidance and clarity to schools so that they know how each initiative applies to their situation.
The district also apparently responded to the threat of a state takeover of struggling schools by developing proactive strategies, Wong said, and having local ownership or responsibility for underperforming schools is important in turning them around.
“I think this is kind of the district’s strong signal to the state that ‘We understand that these schools have to be held accountable,’” he said. “They recognize that, but at the same time they are saying that these will continue to be our schools.”
The initiatives don’t stave off the state achievement district. Three of 10 eligible Clark County schools could still face competition from the three charter operators next school year, regardless of whether or not they enter a performance agreement with the district.
But district officials say they’re taking the school improvement effort seriously.
“I think the state can rest assured, as is evidenced here at Lynch, that the district is taking it most seriously from the performance agreements that our board has had us invoke,” said Geihs, the district’s associate superintendent. “We don’t take any of this lightly.”
Contact Amelia Pak-harvey at apak-harvey@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4630. Follow @ Ameliapakharvey on Twitter.