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Under criticism for pumping public money into a private school, GOP Rep. Hunter Greene has withdrawn his $250,000 earmark in the state’s budget for the Greater Baton Rouge Hope Academy, a private school on O’Neal Lane with 84 students. There was also another $3 million requested for the school through the legislative process, which has also been withdrawn, but Greene says he was not directly connected to that larger line item and was only helping the school make a request. “Anybody can walk up and make a request, which is what the school did,” says Greene.

Perhaps, but a member of the House must sign off on the request in order for it to get into the budget.

Local talk radio listeners debated the topic recently, weighing the earmarks against Greene’s efforts to take up the fiscal-conservative banner during the ongoing session. For instance, Greene led the charge to chop economic development secretary Stephen Moret’s proposed salary from $320,000 to roughly $245,000. Few in the House argued that Moret, former director of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, didn’t deserve such a hefty sum, but Greene passed his amendment while urging his colleagues to be “prudent stewards” of taxpayer money.

Greene, however, isn’t completely abandoning his $250,000 earmark. In the place of Hope Academy, Greene is directing the money to the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired, which he contends will have a statewide impact, and to road projects in the Baton Rouge region.

Hope Academy supporters said last week they were working to get their funding request back into the budget.

The projects funded by such earmarks are generally referred to as NGOs, or nongovernmental organizations. Lawmakers insert the earmarks into the state’s operating budget, found in House Bill 1, which is supported largely by taxpayer dollars. There’s money proposed for economic development groups, drug treatment facilities, religious organizations and social services.

But there are also a few NGOs the average taxpayer might not expect to find in the state’s spending plan—many authored by Baton Rouge lawmakers. For instance, Sen. Yvonne Dorsey, a Democrat, is requesting $65,000 for the Louisiana Ballooning Foundation. GOP Rep. Franklin Foil is chasing $250,000 for Opera Louisiane Inc. Democratic Rep. Avon Honey has an earmark of $1 million for the YMCA of the Capital Area.

Few in the delegation, though, can touch the single-minded wants of Rep. Patricia Smith, a Democrat who previously served on the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board. She has requested $200,000 for the Baton Rouge High School Alumni Association, $125,000 for the McKinley High School Alumni Association and $200,000 for East Baton Rouge Truancy Assessment.

Not to be outdone, Rep. Regina Barrow, a fellow Democrat, has requested $15,000 for Glen Oaks High School Security Dads, $50,000 for Achieve To Succeed, $25,000 for City at Peace, $200,000 for Riz Up Louisiana and $50,000 for the Scotlandville Community Development Corp.

All of the above-mentioned line items are merely proposals at this point. Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, has published a new set of guidelines for funding NGOs, so there’s a possibility that many requests this year will be swiftly rejected.

According to Jindal’s new rules, each project:

• Must have statewide or substantial regional impact.

• Must have been presented or openly discussed during the ongoing legislative session.

• Must be a priority to a state agency.

• Must have a proper disclosure form published online.

Still, it’s unknown what impact the new governor will have on what is an age-old legislative practice for funding pet projects.