The campaign cash already surging in the races for Chicago’s historic school board elections is turning to a gush as contribution limits have been lifted in all but two districts. The state’s board of elections has determined that thanks to major spending in districts 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, all candidates in those races can accept unlimited contributions through the end of the year.
Normally, candidates are limited by state law to only accept $6,900 from individuals (outside of themselves and immediate family); $13,700 from labor organizations, corporations or associations, or $68,500 from any other candidate’s committee or a political action committee (PAC). But caps can be lifted when spending from Super PACs — dubbed independent expenditure committees — adds up to more than $100,000 during an election cycle.
Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited sums regardless of campaign caps, but they are barred from coordinating with or donating directly to the candidates. Instead, they often spend money on mailers, ads, or text messages in support of or opposition to specific candidates.
This year, two Super PACs that back school choice and charter schools opened the floodgates: the Illinois Network of Charter Schools’ INCS Action Independent Committee and Urban Center’s group, Urban Center Action.
Caps can also be lifted when a candidate self-funds. Bruce Leon in the 2nd school district loaned his campaign $95,000 on September 2 and another $150,000 on October 8, lifting the caps for the other candidates in the race.
With caps blown, individuals, businesses or labor organizations like the Chicago Teachers Union can chip in as much as they’d like to candidates until the end of the year.
Chicago is just the latest epicenter of national “money wars between charter school advocates — often backed by wealthy individuals — and opponents, especially teachers’ unions,” said Alisa Kaplan, executive director of Reform for Illinois, a group that tracks money in politics and is advocating for more transparency in campaign finance disclosures. The latest numbers are unsurprising, she said, “but it is alarming. And Illinois’ unique rule allowing contribution caps to be blown will just magnify the influence of big money in these races. What could get lost is all the other issues that are important to students and their families as all that money from the pro- and anti-charter school camps floods our airways and mailboxes.”
The Chicago Teachers Union has given more than $800,000 already directly to school board candidates’ committees via its two PACs since the start of the year, state records show. That includes in-kind contributions, which include offering up staffers, ads, or consulting. The union’s PAC has also transferred money over to other funds — like those run by allies, Our Schools PAC and the United Working Families PAC — that have also helped the union’s endorsed candidates.
While the union largely draws its funding from members, school choice groups have attracted a number of uber-wealthy donors from the corporate world.
INCS’ Super PAC raised $700,000 in the most recent fundraising quarter ending September 30, spending about $560,000 supporting candidates, according to state records. The latest donations came from Chicago businessman Craig Duchossois ($100,000), Netflix founder Reed Hastings ($100,000) and Helen Zell ($500,000), the wife of the late Sam Zell, a real estate developer who previously owned Tribune Media, those records show. The PAC has about $3.4 million left to spend: it ended the quarter with $3 million in the bank and received a $400,000 infusion from Arkansan Jim Walton — one of the heirs to the Walmart fortune — earlier this month.
Both Hastings and the Waltons have been active in school choice fights across the country for several years.
Andrew Broy, INCS chairman and the treasurer of the INCS Action PAC, said corporate donors generally give because they’ve seen how transformative the results are when they invest in charters. “They think education is the best investment to improve long term neighborhood development in the city… there’s a feeling among education reform supporters it equips students at a young age with skills they need to compete in the marketplace.”
He anticipates the spending to continue through the finish line. “The stakes are enormous,” and the instability of board turnover “demonstrated that quite clearly,” Broy said. “We’re heading into an era of instability and politicization of the school board” that threatens to reverse recent strides in graduation and college acceptance rates. “The donor class wants to preserve the gains and reverse the dismantling of the system.”
Urban Center Action ended the quarter with just over $600,000 in the bank. Led by Juan Rangel, the former head of the UNO Network of Charter Schools (now Acero), the Super PAC’s biggest donors include Morningstar founder Joe Mansueto; Daniel O’Keefe, the managing director of the global investment management firm Artisan Partners; and James Perry, a senior advisor at the private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners. Another major donor is the nonprofit Central Sands Land, which is led by Michael Keiser, the greeting card magnate who developed the Bandon Dunes golf course.
CTU’s two PACs — Chicago Teachers Union Local 1 PAC and The Chicago Teachers Union PAC (Illinois Federation of Teachers) — ended this most recent quarter with about $371,000 left in the bank.