Facts & Omar Yanar

Shame on me for not drawing more attention to this guy, because I think its very important to clarify some inconvenient facts I'm guessing he'd rather you voters not know. 

Omar Yanar is a candidate for the State Board of Education and he's a huge advocate for Charter Schools. He has apparently decided to make it rain at local television stations with ad buys. 

Suddenly there are voices in the El Paso County Democratic Party that all of sudden care about the advancement of Charter Schools. They didn't have a single problem with them when former El Paso County Democratic Party Chair, and now County Commissioner Iliana Holguin was on the Board of Directors for a local charter school. 

Not. a. single. word.

And, quite frankly - they haven't said a word about Omar Yanar either. 

But I will. 

In my opinion, his campaign is one of the most shady movidas that is happening right under this community's nose. 

Yanar has this annoying commercial with the absolute worst children rhyme theme. But he makes some claims in his ad that deserve some clarification. 

For those of you that don't know - charter schools are entities that take money from public schools and are set up like a business. By definition - they are competitors to public schools. Yanar doesn't say that in his ads, but for all intents and purposes, its true. 

Now every time a superintendent gets hired or a pay raise in this community, people get in an uproar about how much public tax dollars they are making. Seriously, people lose their shit over it. 

Do you know how much Omar Yanar makes as a superintendent? 

Niether do I. 

Do you know why?

Because charter schools (that claim to be public schools), aren't required to divulge that information. Don't get me wrong - you still pay for it - you just don't have any oversight over how much he makes. You also don't have any oversight over basically anything that happens in one of his charter schools. 

You pay for it - you just don't have any say so over your money. 

And he's running for an office that will essentially put the fox in the henhouse. You see charter school approvals happen at the State Board of Education. The very office he's running for. 

I know - local media isn't covering this. But they should because its a goddamn shame that no one is calling him out. 

Let me tell you what Yanar and the pro-charter folks won't tell you.

First - there is no data that shows that charter schools consistently out-perform public schools. For every study they cherry pick, there are several that say the opposite. 

Second - they love to target poor communities of color and they play this divisive sales pitch that further undermines funding of public schools in those marginalized communities. Here's the (what I see as a) scam they run. They cherry pick the best students and they visit with their families and they tell them - you're kid isn't like the others. They are special. They are better than the other kids. They belong in this "special" school where we (Insert bullshit promise.) 

That's their rap to parents. 

The bullshit promise is usually something like "we have a 100% graduation rate" or "we have a 100% college placement rate". 

That is all part of a high-pressure sales pitch that is essentially a steaming pile of fresh bullshit. What they don't tell parents is that if your student is having a hard time, or just not cutting the mustard, they can get rid of them. 

So even in the best of circumstances, with every possible advantage, charter schools - at best - perform similar to their public school counterparts - who have to take all students. 

Oh yeah, I didn't mention that part did I? Yeah so charter schools don't have to accept students with special needs, or language proficiency issues, or even behavioral issues. 

But hey, what if they recruit your student and then things go south. Surely you have some remedy right? I mean after all, they are taking public dollars for your kid.

Yeah, no. 

You, your student, or even teachers for that matter - are afforded no due process in a charter school. 

I mean I can't think of a better way to describe it than one big - in the opinion of many - movida. 

Why do you think there is not a single public school entity or teacher's group supporting Yanar?

Because they know. 

Don't fall for the sales pitch. This is a serious race with serious ramifications.