Charter Schools PAC Bankroll Yanar

"If public schools weren't failing, charters schools would fail."

Its a common refrain from Republicans that are trying to push "school choice", which is nothing more than privatization of public education - their ultimate goal. 

But charter schools in Texas are essentially government subsidized private businesses that take money away from public schools and divert it to charter schools. 

And they really, really, really want Omar Yanar on the State Board of Education. I wrote a piece about him because his commercials were wall-to-wall and I figured he was making it rain at local TV stations to play that dollar store version of the Dora the Explorer commercial of his. 

Turns out the Charter School industry are the ones that are bankrolling his commercials. And its an obscene amount of money. I mean, even NASCAR would blush at how much sponsorship there is of Yanar's campaign. 

No other campaign has been pimped out to special interests more than Yanar's campaign to the Charter School industry. 

But don't take my word for it - numbers don't lie. He's a screenshot of his latest finance report. 

Sweet.

Baby. 

Jesus.

I've never seen a local campaign more unashamedly sponsored by a special interest - and I've been doing this stuff a long time!

Yanar basically raised nothing outside of his campaign sponsorship from the Charter School industry. 

The State Board of Education approves charter schools, so that begs an important question. 

As a voter and an El Pasoan - ask yourself one very important thing before you cast your vote...

You think that guy is going to be looking out for El Paso students at the State Board of Education or the charter school industry that bankrolled his candidacy?

Actually lets pull over real quick. Most of you reading this have no idea what the State Board of Education does. Well your friendly neighborhood LionStar has your back. Click this link and you'll see what exactly the SBOE actually does. 

Here's a screenshot if you don't have time to click the link. Pay very close attention to that last bullet and you'll see why the Charter School industry is in so deep for Yanar. 

Its one big movida. 

But what bothers me the most about the ads that have been running for Yanar is a promise they make that is 100% not in the lane of the State Board of Education. 

Its down right deceptive. 

Here's a screenshot of what I'm talking about:

"Yanar will support raising teacher pay". 

So a couple of things about this claim. First, look up and refer to what is in the lane of the State Board of Education. You'll notice teacher compensation is not there. That is 100% up to local school districts - or the state legislature. Its not at all the purview of the Texas State Board of Education. 

Not even a little bit. 

So at best, its an empty promise. And anyone that pays money to put out an add like that is in my opinion deliberately trying to give voters the false impression that his support for increased teacher pay means something. 

That is pretty much the equivalent of the Yarbrough Undertaker guy saying he's in favor of raises for teachers. (For those of you that aren't from the valley, there's a vato that dresses like the Undertaker and walks up and down Yarbrough with his title belt y toda la madre).  The point is, it carries the same weight. 

But something else is pretty fucking interesting about that screenshot. 

That ad gets a lot of airtime for a disclaimer that says it was paid for by the Omar Yanar campaign when his campaign finance report doesn't show his campaign paying for airtime...