Five months before elections, candidates for Chicago’s first fully elected school board have raised more than $830,000, with board president hopeful Sendhil Revuluri accounting for nearly one-third of that total.
The Chicago Teachers Union and special interest groups that spent heavily on the 2024 board race have yet to make significant contributions. But many are mobilizing for what may well be the largest school board election in the country.
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A Tribune analysis of more than three dozen active candidate committees found that just over $550,000 had been raised as of the last filing period, March 31. That sum, first reported by Chalkbeat, includes loans and in-kind donations for staffing, food and event space.
Another $280,000 has poured in over the past six weeks, according to state records, though that figure excludes donations less than $1,000. Those smaller, unitemized contributions won’t be reported until the next filing period in July.
For the first time, all 21 seats of the Chicago Board of Education will be up for election in November. Prospective candidates will officially file to run beginning next week, between May 18 and 26. The board is currently in a two-year transition period, with 10 elected seats and 11 mayoral appointees, including an at-large president position.
The last election largely pitted the Chicago Teachers Union against pro-school choice groups, such as the Illinois Network of Charter Schools and the Urban Center. All sitting board members, except board President Sean Harden, have said they intend to run for their seats. The seat for District 10B is vacant after board member Olga Bautista stepped down in March.
The field for board president is the most expensive contest so far. Revuluri, a former board appointee under Mayor Lori Lightfoot, has amassed about $270,000 — more than all of his competitors combined. The education consultant has taken out a $68,000 loan to fund his campaign.
Nearly all of his other donations are from individuals. Revuluri said he has reached out extensively across his professional and personal networks. “I’ve known that this is going to be a lift, and so I decided to get started early,” he said.
Asked whether he is seeking support from outside groups, Revuluri said he is “open to anyone who shares my priorities of focusing on student success first.”
Last month, he received an in-kind donation of $32,500 for field services from the political action committee Chicago Democrats for Education. The PAC was formed in 2024, though it has contributed to only a handful of candidates in the past. Its chair, Hugo Jacobo, is a political consultant who also works for Revuluri.
Revuluri’s wife and father each donated the legal limit of $14,600 to Chicago Democrats for Education last summer, prior to Revuluri’s October campaign announcement.
Jacobo, who has opposed CTU’s influence on the school board, said the committee will likely back other candidates who are “supporting students first” as elections approach.
“(Revuluri) is the strongest candidate with those priorities,” Jacobo said.
Also running for president are elected board members Jennifer Custer and Jessica Biggs, who have raised $89,000 and $90,000, respectively. Custer said she has spent much of that cash on childcare, a permitted campaign expense. Business attorney Victor Henderson has also stepped up fundraising, raking in $34,000 over the past month.
“You have to learn to walk and chew gum at the same time,” Henderson said of juggling fundraising and gathering signatures. “It’s a tall order, but simultaneously serving as president of the board would be a tall order.”
The influx of cash over the past month is partly driven by big-name donors. Allstate Corp. CEO Thomas J. Wilson and his wife, Jill Garling, each gave the legal limit of $7,300 to a slate of six elected school board members who have opposed Mayor Brandon Johnson — including Biggs and Custer. The couple’s combined $87,600 puts them among the largest individual donors so far.
Another top donor is billionaire Michael J. Sacks, who gave $7,300 to seven elected board members in the fall. Sacks is a major contributor to the super PAC affiliated with the Common Ground Collective, which has also signaled it will spend in the race. The group was launched in 2024 and is led by former cabinet members of ex-CPS CEO Pedro Martinez.
Super PACs, also called independent expenditure committees, can raise and spend unlimited money but cannot coordinate directly with candidates.
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The PAC affiliated with Chicago Teachers Union, the biggest spender in the last election, had only about $2,000 on hand as of March. But those funds will soon be bolstered by member dues. The union recently proposed a dues hike for most of its membership, in part to raise funds ahead of elections.
A CTU spokesperson said members will review candidate interviews and questionnaires to vote on whom to endorse. The union will support “champions who will fight for the funding owed to the district and advance quality public schools for Chicago’s children,” the spokesperson said.
The PAC affiliated with SEIU Local 73, which represents support staff members across CPS, has also donated $10,000 to a handful of elected incumbents. President Dian Palmer said those contributions ran separately from the endorsement process. The sheer volume of races means it will be a significant undertaking for the union’s political team, she added.
“I think it’s safe to say we’re going to be very involved,” Palmer said.
With months still to go, the numbers offer only an early glimpse of how races may unfold. But they underscore ongoing questions about whether political newcomers and independent candidates can compete without amassing big-money war chests.
Lawmakers who designed Chicago’s elected board drew 20 districts partly to attempt to curb the influence of outside spending. Yet during the 2024 elections, several contenders dropped out without the support of CTU, the Illinois Network of Charter Schools or other major groups. The district maps also weren’t finalized until early 2024, which left candidates and outside groups less time to fundraise.
Hal Woods, chief of policy at Kids First Chicago, pointed to how school board members serve on a volunteer basis.
“The heavy influence of money in these elections, coupled with the lack of any stipend or compensation for school board members, is going to discourage Chicagoans who are not aligned with these interests from running and serving on the school,” he said.
Woods expects the most spending in the race for board president, a position that will play a central role in setting meeting agendas and shaping district policy.
“If you’re gonna go matching, dollar for dollar, you’re seeing somewhere between $5 (million) and $10 million just on that race,” he said.
No other elected school board in a large, urban district comes close to Chicago’s in size. The New York City Department of Education school board, which governs three times as many students, has 24 members, but most are appointed.
A poll from Kids First Chicago in December found that only 32% of respondents knew that Chicago was transitioning to an expanded fully elected school board. Just 10% of respondents could name their school board representative.
The race will be on a high-turnout November ballot, but school board contests typically sit at the bottom, where many voters “drop off,” according to Michael Hartney, a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
A cash advantage could give candidates the upper hand as they spend on advertising, field work and other campaign expenses. Because there are no party labels, voters often lean heavily on endorsements from unions and other groups, he noted.
“There’s going to be plenty money to go around,” Hartney said. “It’s really about being able to mobilize voters and the name recognition of the candidates.”