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Spending in Chicago’s school board election is surging, as special interest groups opposed to the Chicago Teachers Union step up their efforts to prevent the union from maintaining majority control.
Four super PACs — the Common Ground Collective, the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, Urban Center, and Brighter Futures — have spent at least $3.5 million since July 15, the most recent deadline to report campaign spending to the state, according to campaign finance disclosures analyzed by Chalkbeat. It was enough to lift state spending restrictions in 12 of 21 races, which happens once one or more super PACs spend more than $100,000 in a single race.
The super PAC for the Common Ground Collective — an anti-CTU group formed roughly a year ago that says it’s pushing for “effective progressive policies” — has spent just over $2 million on advertising supporting or opposing candidates since July 15. It has taken in an additional $3.5 million since the end of June, when it reported more than $444,000 cash on hand. Nearly all of the more recent donations come from billionaire Michael Sacks, a donor to Democratic causes who has argued the union exerts too much influence over the district.
The advocacy group Illinois Network of Charter Schools has about $5 million in its super PAC’s coffers, according to its executive director, Andrew Broy, who said the network is unleashing as much as $4 million of it on school board races starting last week. Among other sizable recent donations, it got a $1.75 million check from business executive and charter advocate Jim Frank.
“Getting a majority on the board to be independent of CTU and the mayor is our No. 1 priority,” Broy said.
The Chicago Teachers Union decisively outspent all other groups during the city’s first school board elections in 2024, when voters picked 10 members. Mayor Brandon Johnson, a close union ally elected with CTU’s financial backing, appointed the remaining 11 members.
With roughly four weeks left before the Nov. 3 election and early voting underway, the union has not yet reported spending that matches its opponents, most of which have received sizable checks from wealthy Illinoisans in recent months. But that picture could yet shift: In 2024, the union concentrated the bulk of its spending in the final weeks before the election.
Matthew Luskin, the CTU’s chief of staff, said the union plans to spend in the upcoming weeks on field work, including flyering. It also expects volunteers will canvass, phone bank, and organize weekend events.
“We are not in a spending arms race with billionaires,” Luskin said.
Luskin believes that message — that billionaires are trying to gobble up influence over the school board — resonates with voters and “tells them something about the type of school system we will get if they’re able to just purchase the election.”
The union largely leans on member dues for campaign cash. But last spring, CTU members voted down a proposal to increase dues to help support political campaigns.
The CTU’s PAC reported having more than $377,000 on hand as of June 30. Since then, it’s reported receiving just under $15,000. A handful of candidates, including Hilario Dominguez, the former CTU deputy political director running for board president, have reported more than $300,000 in in-kind contributions from CTU for things like consulting and legal services. Our Schools PAC, the political spending arm of a pro-labor group that CTU is a part of, also had more than $300,000 in the bank at the end of June. Late last week, Dominguez reported Our Schools PAC spent about $305,000 on mailers supporting his candidacy.
Union for school support staff spends against CTU in some races
This fall, the CTU is also facing off against a former close ally — SEIU, which represents support staff in CPS — in some of the school board races. That union, which had accused CTU of attempting to raid some of its members, has backed its own slate of candidates, in some cases supporting CTU-endorsed ones and in others opting for their opponents.
SEIU Illinois State Council’s PAC, funded with the help of member dues, transferred at least $250,000 to a handful of its endorsed candidates over the past two months.
Brighter Futures Chicago, a new super PAC funded by SEIU Illinois State Council and chaired by the council’s executive director, Anthony Driver Jr., had a war chest of more than $1 million in early August. In recent weeks, Brighter Futures has spent just over $300,000 on digital ads, some text messaging, and field work in support of its endorsed candidates.
Driver said the union is getting heavily involved this time because it wants board members who will support students and its workers, many of whom faced layoffs last year. He also cited SEIU’s disagreement with the CTU-aligned school board passing a budget that relies on uncertain state money to reverse layoffs — a move that could result in disruptive midyear cuts.
Still, Driver insisted that the rift between SEIU and CTU has nothing to do with its involvement in the race.
“Our political spending, our political efforts, our door knocking, our organizing is not contingent on any other union,” Driver said.
Charter school proponents ramp up spending
Broy, of the charter advocacy group, said it’s important to his organization to elect school board members that will be supportive of charter schools, which operate with public funds under contract with the Chicago Board of Education.
The board oversees charters and determines whether to renew their contracts and for how long. The current board aligned with the CTU — a longtime critic of the charter sector — has delayed some renewals and often opted for shorter charter contracts and additional financial requirements, pointing to several recent abrupt charter closures and other fiscal turmoil.
Broy said the group will spend heavily on TV and social media advertising, direct mailers, and canvassing, with a special focus on six school board districts where more than 2,500 households with charter school parents live.
In late September, the network’s political action committee wrote its final checks going directly to candidates ahead of Nov. 3, Broy said. Last week, the network’s independent expenditure committee, or super PAC, took over, with roughly $1 million spent in support of 13 candidates and about $89,000 in opposition to one, Karen Zaccor, a current school board member who successfully advocated for more stringent financial oversight of charters. Super PACs can spend unlimited amounts to campaign, but they are not allowed to give directly to candidates’ campaigns or coordinate with them.
Broy rejected CTU’s criticism that rich out-of-towners who have donated to his group are helping them skew the election. Broy said donors such as Frank, an Evanston resident and former CEO of Wheels Inc., are “deeply invested in public education.” (Frank is also the chair of Intrinsic Schools, a Chicago charter school operator.)
Broy said last week that INCS has not decided whom to support in the high-stakes race for school board president, saying that it’s still trying to gauge which candidate has the best path to beating Dominguez, the CTU’s former deputy political director, who is running in that race.
Other anti-CTU groups also spend big
The Common Ground Collective also has not endorsed or donated to a candidate for school board president. But it has already spent more than half a million dollars on advertising opposing Dominguez.
“CGC is focused on leveling the playing field to ensure independent voices are represented on the Board as the CTU is expected to put millions more into these races than they did in 2024 when there were only half the number of seats on the ballot,” a spokesperson for the Common Ground Collective said in a statement.
Sacks, the key Common Ground Collective donor, wrote an open letter to CTU President Stacy Davis Gates earlier this year in which he pushed back on the CTU criticism of his involvement. He wrote he is “a lifelong Democrat who has fought for equality and for increased funding for public education” and decried the union’s “outsized influence over the district.”
The super PAC for Urban Center, a centrist, pro-school choice organization, spent big in 2024 and, in recent weeks, has focused on text messages supporting its preferred candidates.
Juan Rangel, chair of Urban Center Action and former charter school operator who a decade ago paid a federal fine to settle accusations of misleading investors, said they want to prevent a “power grab” by CTU. He batted down CTU’s argument that groups like his are using wealthy donors to buy the election. He said their end goal is to ensure more students are reading and doing math on grade level.
The super PAC received just over $150,000 since June 30 — all of that from two individual donors.
Rangel considers Common Ground and INCS as “like-minded” allies because they’re not involved with the teachers union and support similar ideas, such as school choice. As a result, if Urban Center notices that INCS or Common Ground are spending on mailers, they might go another route.
“Why should we double that?” Rangel said.
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
