Emboldened by CPS strife, CTU critics pour more cash into school board elections

As the leadership struggle at Chicago Public Schools drags on in public view, the city’s first-ever school board elections are heating up in the background and turning into a de facto referendum on the Chicago Teachers Union and Mayor Brandon Johnson.

A month out from Election Day, business and charter school interests that have raised millions of dollars are now infusing cash and stepping up in school board races against the CTU — in three districts dishing out so much money that election officials have lifted the contribution limits.

They appear emboldened by the strife at CPS, many of them having spent the past few weeks backing schools CEO Pedro Martinez in his ongoing fight against Johnson and the teachers’ union.

One recently formed political action committee has the explicit intention of providing a counterbalance to the CTU.

“They have 10 CTU candidates; they're gonna do exactly what they are told to do, right?” said Hugo Jacobo, the heavyweight political consultant who formed Chicago Democrats for Education. “So we need people that are gonna sit there and actually make tough decisions about the budget and everything that's going on in the city.”

On Thursday, Chicago Democrats for Education issued a news release declaring their candidates oppose CPS taking out a short-term, high-interest loan, which has been a main point of contention between Martinez and Johnson.

Meanwhile the union is pulling on its more limited funds — plus its notoriously strong field organizing and campaigning — to try to push its own candidates over the finish line.

“We've been knocking on doors for the last six weeks, and we're gonna continue to knock on doors with an army of volunteers who want to make sure that the public is educated around this,” said Hilario Dominguez, a CTU political coordinator helping lead the affiliated Our Schools PAC formed in July. “Our opponents are going to try to confuse the public. They are going to hope that the public is going to go in there and vote for the first name they see.”

Even if those groups opposing the CTU are pointing to the controversy between the mayor and Martinez, Dominguez said they ultimately are anti-labor groups that want to privatize public education. In response, Dominguez said CTU-backed candidates are staying focused on what they see as at stake in this election — fully funded schools, equity and the need for more sports programming and arts education.

Union-supported candidates Jason Dónes in District 3, Lanetta Thomas in District 9 and Robert Jones in District 10 were informed by election officials that the contribution caps were removed in their races. That can happen if a candidate gives more than $100,000 to their own campaign fund or a super PAC or individual spends more than $100,000 on a race.

There are 31 school board candidates running in 10 geographic voting districts. Their campaign committees have directly received a total of $1,075,121 in contributions and loans as of Thursday, a Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ analysis shows. That’s aside from $348,389 in-kind contributions in the races and much more that’s still expected to come.

The CTU’s two PACs and a few others led by related community groups have spent more than $253,000 in support of their candidates since June through in-kind contributions, such as mailers, field canvassing and consulting, state campaign records show.

Two super PACS opposing the union had around $3.6 million to spend at the start of September and are now making their move.

The Illinois Network of Charter Schools has reported shelling out $526,974 in the past two weeks on digital ads and mailers supporting seven candidates: District 10 hopeful Karin Norrington-Reaves, District 8’s Ángel Gutiérrez, District 7’s Eva Villalobos, District 1’s Michelle Pierre, District 9’s Miquel Lewis, District 3’s Carlos Rivas and District 6’s Andre Smith.

INCS also reported spending $30,000 on digital ads opposing the CTU-endorsed Karen Zaccor in the 4th District.

That spending is through INCS’ independent expenditure committee, a type of campaign group that can spend in support or opposition of candidates but not contribute directly to or coordinate with campaigns, and has no limits on the size contributions it can accept. The group was sitting on nearly $3 million in early September and has raised more since.

Chicago philanthropist Helen Zell, the executive director of her family’s foundation and widow of real estate tycoon Sam Zell, contributed $500,000 to the super PAC last month. Craig Duchossois, the longtime chairman of his family’s investment firm, gave another $100,000 a few days later.

Almost all the same candidates backed by INCS were boosted by another super PAC, Urban Center Action, to the tune of $123,479 on texting and printing efforts in the same two-week span. The group didn’t spend on Smith but did support Ellen Rosenfeld in District 4.

Headed up by ex-charter school executive Juan Rangel and linked to former mayoral challenger Paul Vallas, Urban Center Action raked in $671,000 this summer and has kept the fundraising going.

Oil industry executive Jay Bergman — who contributed $500,000 to a super PAC supporting Donald Trump in 2016 — gave Urban Center Action $50,000 in September.

While Rangel, like INCS, has continued to support charter schools, his focus lately has been more squarely on opposing the CTU and Johnson. Urban Center Action released a poll that Rangel said showed voters’ unfavorable view of both the union and mayor — evidence to him that the school board races are crucial.

“There are no checks and balances,” Rangel said. Rangel admits that under former mayors, such as Richard M. Daley, the mayor and school board seemed one-sided. But he said he thinks Daley had the city in mind, whereas he sees Johnson as only focused on how to support the teachers union, the mayor's former employer.

“That's just a very irresponsible, short-sighted way of looking at how to run the school system,” he said. “Eventually, that kind of thinking will hurt kids.”

Jacobo said Chicago Democrats for Education is not necessarily giving money to campaigns, though it is accepting donations. It has not registered any contributions with the Illinois State Board of Elections. Jacobo would instead like campaign donors to give to the candidates directly, which he said would maintain their independence.

Sarah Karp covers education for WBEZ.