This story was initially printed by Chalkbeat. Join Chalkbeat Chicago’s free day by day e-newsletter to maintain up with the most recent information on Chicago Public Faculties.
CHICAGO — The Chicago Lecturers Union was the largest spender in Chicago’s first college board elections, which pitted the union in opposition to pro-school selection teams as each angled for affect on a brand new, partly-elected board.
Total, between candidates’ personal conflict chests and cash spent individually by political motion teams and tremendous PACs, greater than $13 million flowed within the run-up to the historic November elections, a Chalkbeat evaluation of marketing campaign disclosures from late March to the top of December filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections discovered.
Brisk spending has grow to be a trademark of faculty board races in giant city districts. The Chicago complete — which incorporates spending by each candidates and curiosity teams — outpaced spending in districts comparable to Denver and Detroit. In Los Angeles, nevertheless, almost $15 million was spent on its college board races in 2020. Lecturers unions have usually confronted off in opposition to pro-charter and college selection teams, however — not like in Chicago — unions have normally spent lower than these teams.
“This isn’t a typical college board election in any means, form, or type,” mentioned Jonathan Collins, assistant professor of political science and training at Lecturers Faculty at Columbia College. “It’s a wholly new system at a vital second when training is arguably extra politicized than we’ve ever seen.”
Final fall, Chicago residents elected 10 board members, together with one who ran unopposed; they had been sworn in alongside 11 mayoral appointees on Jan. 15. In 2026, all 21 seats on the board can be up for grabs on the poll field.
Candidates raised greater than $5.6 million between March 26, after they might first start gathering signatures to get on the poll, and Dec. 31, 2024. They reported $3.3 million in expenditures throughout the identical interval.
Along with candidates’ direct spending, the union’s two political motion committees spent $4.3 million — together with a $1.5 million spending spree the week of the election — throughout that very same time interval. In some instances that spending might have additionally given a lift to different candidates in different races, however most went to 9 candidates in contested college board races, three of whom received seats on the board.
Two pro-school selection tremendous PACs — these for the Illinois Community of Constitution Faculties and City Heart — collectively spent roughly $3.5 million throughout the identical interval. These teams additionally backed three candidates who prevailed on the polls.
In some instances, Illinois Board of Elections disclosures can embody errors or duplicate spending reviews by candidate campaigns and political motion committees spending on their behalf. The latter teams additionally don’t all the time record particular candidates after they report expenditures. State regulation requires marketing campaign finance disclosures be filed each quarter. The most recent ones, which lined the ultimate quarter of 2024, had been due Jan. 15.
Chalkbeat’s evaluation of monetary disclosures comes after a historic and hotly contested election season that noticed the union and constitution camps buying and selling sharp phrases forward of election day. Every accused the opposite of aiming to purchase board seats: The CTU slammed the constitution group for leaning on giant checks from deep-pocketed donors, together with from out-of-state billionaires comparable to Netflix CEO, Democratic mega donor, and constitution supporter Reed Hastings. The constitution group mentioned it needed to push again at a time when it mentioned metropolis leaders are hostile to constitution, selective enrollment, and magnet faculties. Some candidates additionally known as out the CTU for sending voters junk mail portraying candidates — together with lively longtime Democrats — as puppets of now President Donald Trump.
The CTU declined to reply particular questions associated to its marketing campaign finance reviews. However in an announcement, the union mentioned the expense was essential to advocate for high-quality neighborhood faculties and guarantee “public college champions had been the largest bloc of candidates Chicagoans selected to characterize them.”
“We fought arduous to create the elected college board and shouldn’t have needed to battle so arduous or spend a lot to counter the affect of out-of-state billionaires and forces of privatization,” the assertion mentioned.
The Illinois Community of Constitution Faculties spent about $2.3 million within the election’s 9 contested races, backing candidates in some and opposing CTU-endorsed candidates in others. Andrew Broy, the community’s government director, mentioned the expense was value it.
“Anyone needed to be a counterweight to the million-plus {dollars} the CTU was going to spend to advertise their agenda,” he mentioned.
Chicago voters additionally elected three candidates who benefited from neither CTU or pro-school selection spending. Two of those candidates, Jessica Biggs and Therese Boyle, had a number of the smallest conflict chests and spent the least per vote they earned, suggesting there are clear limitations to how a lot cash should purchase within the metropolis’s fledgling college board elections.
Bruce Leon, an unbiased candidate in District 2 on the North Facet who loaned himself $620,000 of his personal cash, had the most important conflict chest of any college board candidate. He completed second to CTU-backed Ebony DeBerry.
Regardless of the wave of spending, the academics union and others who supported an elected college board have known as for extra marketing campaign spending limits particularly for Chicago college board elections.
Presently, candidates working for workplace in Illinois are certain by limits on how a lot they will elevate, comparable to $6,900 from a person contributor and $13,700 from a company or a labor union. However tremendous PACs usually are not topic to these limits. And as spending to again or oppose anybody candidate exceeds $100,000, the marketing campaign contribution caps for all candidates in that district are lifted. In most Chicago college board districts, spending by the Illinois Community of Constitution Faculties and City Heart lifted these caps by early October.
Collins, at Columbia College, mentioned there’s solely a lot town and state might do, given the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s 2010 Residents United determination cementing the power of tremendous PACs to spend with few restrictions, so long as they don’t coordinate instantly with candidates’ campaigns.
Collins, who has adopted college board marketing campaign spending in recent times, says that roughly $1 million per seat has been typical in giant city district board elections. And the spending standoff between academics union and constitution advocates has additionally grow to be a fixture of such races throughout the nation, from Windfall, Rhode Island, to San Francisco.
“In giant city districts in blue states particularly, these have been the 2 prize fighters within the ring,” Collins mentioned.
It’s uncommon, nevertheless, to see a academics union, which normally leans extra on its capacity to place boots on the bottom for door-knocking and phone-banking, outspend pro-school selection teams so handily, he mentioned. These teams have had a transparent monetary edge in different cities.
In keeping with Board of Elections disclosures, the union’s political committee spent greater than $500,000 on discipline work between March 26 and Dec. 31.
In keeping with Chalkbeat’s evaluation, candidates and political teams in Chicago spent a mixed $3.8 million on junk mail to voters, nearly $1.2 million on digital adverts, and almost $500,000 on textual content messaging, amongst different expenditures.
City Heart Motion — the pro-school selection PAC run by former UNO constitution community head Juan Rangel and affiliated with Paul Vallas, the previous Chicago Public Faculties CEO who misplaced the 2023 Chicago mayoral race to Johnson — spent about $1.1 million, primarily on discipline work.
Broy, of the constitution community, mentioned the CTU holds a “structural benefit” in having the ability to draw on dues from its nearly 30,000 members, forcing advocacy teams like his to depend on giant checks from a comparatively small variety of people to compete. Broy additionally questioned the CTU follow of underwriting smaller political teams that used funding from the union to assist CTU-endorsed candidates — a follow that, had the spending caps remained in place, might assist circumvent them.
However Matt Dietrich, a spokesman for the state Board of Elections, mentioned his company has acquired no formal complaints about spending within the college board races. The board despatched a letter to CTU management within the fall asking why the union has two separate political motion committees — a possible marketing campaign guidelines violation.
Dietrich mentioned it’s potential that one PAC is affiliated with the union and one other with its basis. The board has not acquired a response from the union.
Requested concerning the closing price ticket of the election, Dietrich mentioned, “No quantity would shock me given how shortly the spending limits got here off, and the massive gamers who obtained concerned.”
Broy mentioned the community is already recruiting candidates and fundraising for the 2026 college board race.
“I believe there’ll be lots of curiosity in that election,” he mentioned.
Between his appointees and CTU-backed elected candidates, Johnson seems poised to carry continued affect over the board’s selections within the subsequent two years. However Collins, the Lecturers Faculty knowledgeable, mentioned the extraordinary spending conflict in final yr’s board races raises the potential of a divided, gridlocked board within the district’s not-too-distant future.
“Will they be capable of agree on robust funds selections that may maintain the district afloat?” Collins mentioned.
Knowledge evaluation by Thomas Wilburn
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter masking Chicago Public Faculties. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.
Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit information website masking academic change in public faculties.
