Nevada Department of Education Has No Direct Say In Who Gets Tesla's $37.5 Million K-12 Donation

theodp writes: The Nevada Legislature in 2014 approved a $1.3 billion tax break -- the largest tax break in the history of the state -- to woo Tesla into locating its battery factory in Northern NV. In return, Tesla made a $37.5 million pledge to support K-12 education ($7.5M annually, for 5 years, beginning in 2018). Lawmakers are now expressing surprise after learning that the NV Dept. of Education has no direct role in deciding which organizations receive the $37.5 million in donations pledged by Tesla. Last month, the state's deputy superintendent for business and support services, informed lawmakers that Tesla 'identifies the entities and the amounts those entities will receive.' She described the NV Dept. of Education and its Education Gift Fund as merely an intermediary, raising eyebrows among some lawmakers who questioned the process used to determine what organizations received money. 'To me it's symptomatic of how the state exists -- as an appendage to corporate affairs,' said Bob Fulkerson, who heads the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. 'That's the reason for Nevada to exist. For corporations to make as much money as they can and pay as little as they can in taxes.' In 2019, Governor Steve Sisolak announced that Tesla would invest $1 million to support Nevada's computer science education initiatives as part of the company's statewide education investment. Sisolak made the announcement at The Mirage in Las Vegas during CSEdCon, a CS education conference hosted by the tech-bankrolled nonprofit Code.org. According to a spreadsheet provided to the Nevada Current by the NV Dept. of Education, Code.org received $761,540 from the initial two years of Tesla donations, while another $200,000 went to Girls Who Code.

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